Return of the Jabberwocky
by CatGirlFireflare
Summary: Alice always had that one dream about Underland. Now a slightly different dream is haunting her and she's determined to find out why. She gets more than she bargained for, and discovers the ancient truth about Underland: the Jabberwocky wasn't always alone. Light pairing of Alice with Hatter, and some OCs with OCs.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, I'm CrazyCatGirl, I hope you enjoy this story, I don't own Alice in Wonderland 2010, etc. I do own the Original Characters I've made up though. Most of this has already been fully typed out, just to let you know. And I'm sorry Alice that is probably Out Of Character a bit, she's rather difficult to write. Anyway, BOLD= author's notes. _Italics_= dreams. ****Enjoy!**

Alice was having a dream. Only, it wasn't quite the dream she'd always had, the one about her first trip to Underland. This one was different. It was still about Underland, but...

_She was falling down the rabbit-hole again, only she was falling upwards. "Ye don't slay," came the Hatter's voice, accompanied by the sight of the disturbing Pshalver ingredients. 'So near so far so in-between...' A tiny door that opened as she approached with a key, as the Jabberwocky's voice rumbled out of the ground, and the walls of a tunnel, "Insignificant bearer!"_

_"You could stay." The clear vial of purple liquid. "Blood of the Jabberwocky." The three long claw-marks on her arm, long-since faded into scars. "Be back before you know it." 'How can you tell this way not that? You choose the door, you choose the path, perhaps you should be coming back!'_

_"You won't remember me." 'It's such a long long way to fall.' "Of course I will!" 'So many things got in your way, no time today, no time today!' McTwisp the rabbit, running through the bushes, with his gold watch flashing in the sun._

_'So many doors, how did you choose? So much to gain so much to lose!' Red-orange eyes glaring out from a dark, frilled head, long teeth sticking out of a thin, blunt snout._

_"Get back here!" it snarled, claws lashing out at her._

_'Perhaps you should be coming back...!'_

Alice woke with a gasp, sitting straight up in bed. She tightened her hands into fists around the crumpled sheets, waiting for her breathing to slow. She'd never had any other dream except for the memory of her first journey through Underland... until this night, and the one before.

This dream was such confusing a mixture of different memories, all woven together with fragments of a song. And so real...

And that last part of the dream- that had never happened. The Jabberwocky had never said that to her. Alice frowned, glancing around her room. The dream almost sounded like it was calling her back to Underland. Was McTwisp or one of the others nearby to take her there?

She flipped the sheet away and swung her legs onto the floor, getting up slowly and walking to the window. Nothing was there except for the ocean, as it had been for days now.

She was on her way home after her longest trading expedition yet. Their business in China was thriving, and her mentor- Hamish's kind-hearted father- had decided that they should return home for a month to rest and to celebrate.

Alice sighed, watching the ocean in the thin, early-morning light. Stars danced faintly in the ever-shifting mirrors of waves. She'd be home in just a couple more days. Maybe there she'd discover an answer to her peculiar dream.

Sighing, she went to the small closet in which her clothes were kept. She wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, so she may as well stay up.

Once dressed, the young lady exited her cabin, taking a deep breath of fresh, salty air. She hadn't grown tired of it yet, as one of the shipmates had said she would, but enjoyed it immensely.

It was a good thing she never got seasick, or that would have ruined such quiet moments as this.

She crossed her arms on the thick wooden railing and watched with a smile as a quartet of dolphins sped alongside the ship. The silvery creatures leaped over one another's backs, sending thin curtains of water splashing across their companions' rubbery tails and dorsal fins.

The crisscrossing and zig-zagging waves made Alice imagine the creatures spinning out long ribbons behind them, invisible braided banners drifting through the sea. Swimming like that was probably the closest thing one could get to flying, she mused.

"Well, maybe there's some potion or cake in Underland that could make me do that," she murmured jokingly to herself, smiling and shrugging. Well, maybe there was!

"And speaking of cake..." she continued with a grin, walking away from the aquatic show to search for the cook. Perhaps she could persuade him to make some little square-shaped cakes, just for fun.

That afternoon, after a breakfast and a lunch which were both utterly and disappointingly devoid of little cakes, a storm blew in from the north, ahead and to the port side of the ship. The fluffy, flattish grey clouds seemed to move in quicker as the ship sped up, pushed along by the breeze.

The skies darkened, but so slowly that it went almost unnoticed. One would first realize how weak the light had become, and then how deep the shadows were growing, how blurred the horizon was, and so on. Hours passed as the waves grew dark and choppy, and the ship climbed and fell slowly in the water like a giant rocking-horse.

The helpful wind that pushed their sails grew into a slight gale, which whipped hair and ropes into tangled messes and spat raindrops into squinting eyes. Crests of waves splashed occasionally over the sides of the boat, sending small objects spinning away across the deck.

Rain pelted down in sheets as Alice stood by one of the masts, determined to wait out the storm. Her hair was already drenched, as were her clothes. She was grateful she wasn't wearing a corset or stockings, or they would've been soaked too.

Thunder rumbled above, as though the thick clouds were the growling stomach of some enormous monster. Still, Alice refused to go running and hiding like a little child. Continuous effort on the part of the rain and cold wind however, were slowly weakening her resolve.

"A little storm never hurt anyone," she told herself firmly, though this was not strictly true. The slowly leaning and bucking deck danced and gleamed with spattering raindrops and ocean water, reflecting the intermittent flashes of lightning. Finally, after several flashes that made her eyes ache, Alice assented to returning to the comfort of her cabin.

She squish-stepped across the sodden deck and opened the door, which had taken a vacation from creaking because of the rain. Thunder still boomed forth, and rain pattered harshly against the porthole, and the floor still tilted and rocked, but at least it was dry in the little room.

After closing the door securely, Alice pulled off one shoe, dumped the water in it out the porthole, set the shoe down and did the same to her other one. Both pieces of foot-wear were now wilted and soggy, and she squeezed out as much water as she could.

This was made difficult by the relentlessly re-soggying rain, but there wasn't much else she could do about it. The young lady peeled off her outer dress and squeezed the water out of it as well, wringing it out into a bucket and dumping that out. She did the same to her bedraggled hair as well.

She slipped into a comfortable nightgown, which was a welcome change from the damp dress. She stretched a thin piece of rope across the room, tying one end to the doorknob and one to the hinge of the porthole, and draped her dress across it. Hopefully it would dry out a little by morning.

**I included some of the lyrics from the end-credits song- which I don't own- in Alice's dream. Don't worry, it gets exciting soon. It won't all be boring human-y stuff, so hang in there!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter, yay!**

That night, she had the dream again. It was the different one this time, with extra little bits added in or missing from the original's script.

_Falling through the rabbit-hole. "You don't slay." 'So near so far so in-between.' A tiny door with a key, the Jabberwock's rough voice growling, "Insignificant bearer!" A flash of silver from the Vorpal Sword._

_"You could stay." "The blood of the Jabberwocky." That purple vial. "Be back before you know it." 'You choose the door, you choose the path, perhaps you should be coming back!'_

_"Of course I will." The chessboard battlefield. 'It's such a long long way to fall.' A piano with keys playing on their own. 'So many things got in your way, no time today.' Twisted trees with curled limbs._

_'How did you choose? So much to gain so much to lose!' The thin, serpentine neck snaking its way along the ground, the blunt head turning this way and that, scarlet eyes burning._

_"Where are you?!" it growled, hissing and snapping its teeth._

_'Perhaps you should be coming back!'_

Alice sat straight up in bed, gasping and panting. She looked around with a feeling of de ja vu. It was morning (probably), and she'd just woken up from a dream, exactly like yesterday.

The young woman picked her still-damp dress up from its makeshift clothesline and placed in on the bed, then untied the rope as she looked out the porthole. It was still covered in clear jewel-like raindrops, so she opened it and looked outside.

Only a faint grey glow through the clouds on the horizon could be seen. So, it was just barely morning. It was a little bit earlier than when she'd woken up the previous day, and more than a little bit darker.

Something in the water ahead suddenly moved, and Alice swiveled her head quickly to see what it was. A dolphin had leapt into the air, causing a fountain-like cascade of water to splash everywhere around it. Alice began to smile, but then noticed something odd.

The other three dolphins from the group yesterday leaped behind it, but these were not the playful sort of jumps they normally made. For one thing, they seemed almost to be fleeing from something, as they were rocketing forward at what must've been top speed.

The one nearest the back of the group shot straight into the air, then leaped again the instant it fell back into the water. Something else moved in the water, just behind where the dolphin had leapt from. Whatever the something was, it was large and vaguely round, sending out huge ripples from one spot.

Two huge, dark triangular shapes rose slowly from the still-stormy waves, far to either side of it, like the flukes of an enormous dolphin or whale. The tips on the far sides of the shapes cleared the water, while the closer edges stayed below the surface.

"But it _can't_ be a _whale_," Alice muttered to herself, confused, "That doesn't make any sense..." For one thing, the flukes would never be so thin or sharp, and whatever was making those ripples couldn't be any natural part of a dolphin or whale.

And another thing. These 'flukes,' dull purplish and slightly tattered along the back edges, were roughly forty or more feet across from tip to tip.

The objects- almost looking like the fins of a fish, they were so thin and pointed at the tips- each formed a shallow arc, like crescent moons. Then they pushed down, crashing in slow-motion back into the water.

Alice shrugged, joking to herself, "Giant, aquatic butterfly?"

A long, thin shape rose part-way out of the water directly between all three things, the ripple-maker and the two wings/fins. The shape was too dark to make out the color of, but it moved like an eel.

The round ripple-causing object tilted back, the back of it submerging and the front breaking the surface for a moment. Then it dipped down again and sank beneath the surface, and the long object followed suit, sliding forward and arching downwards like a snake slithering into a tunnel.

The very tips of the wings disappeared below the waves too, as the end of a long, thick tail flicked upward and then vanished into the water. The surface seemed to almost sag for a moment, before filling in with shifting waves again. It looked exactly the same again, as though nothing had ever happened.

Alice frowned, but the mystery creature didn't reappear. The rain had already lessened considerably though, now just a light drizzle in the grey morning mist.

The young woman sat back down on her bed, thinking about what to do. It was still too wet and uncomfortable to go outside. And it was too early to do much of anything else. So what could she do by herself in the cabin?

With a sigh, Alice reached into a bag she kept by the wall, pulled out a book, and flopped backwards onto her bed. When in doubt, find something good to read.

After an hour or so she got tired of it, having already read that particular novel twice before. Outside, a few passengers were preparing to have breakfast. Alice put on some normal daytime clothes and walked outside to join the others. It was just a little crowded at the one table that had shelter from the rain, so she sat elsewhere.

A couple people thought she was extremely odd because of this: wanting to sit out in the rain? Preposterous! She thought it was silly of them to sit so crowded together just to avoid a little dampness.

By noon the rain had stopped entirely, and the clouds were dissipating. Alice and a couple other crew members stayed above deck to enjoy the cool air, but got doused by a last spurt of rain. The others found it annoying, but Alice thought it was funny. She was also still keeping an eye out for the mystery creature.

It still did not reappear. Maybe it had been some kind of new or rare animal, not yet discovered. Or maybe it was a sea-serpent, like the ones of legend. Alice certainly hoped that one of these was the case, and that it wasn't a figment of her imagination.

Of course, she'd seen stranger things in Underland, so it was entirely possible that the creature had been real.

An hour or so later the call came in: Land! They were in sight of England now. It'd still been quite foggy, which was why they hadn't spotted it earlier, but that just made it all the more exciting. Almost home!

It took another couple hours to reach the port, a period of time consumed with excitement and an eagerness to be home at last. Alice's mentor/would-have-been-father-in-law had already sent word ahead, so their families knew when to expect them.

They arrived at the pier early that evening, and were warmly greeted by friends and family. The stuffy Lady Ascott and her equally stuffy son Hamish were there to welcome back Lord Ascott, and Alice's sister Margaret and their mother were there to welcome Alice.

Alice happily embraced her mother and sister, asking how they were and if Lowell had been behaving himself.

Margaret reluctantly told her how the man recently admitted to her that he'd had the beginnings of an affair the day of Alice's 'engagement party.' She'd asked who the lady was, and Lowell had reluctantly told her. But he'd also apologized to Margaret, and she was willing to give him a second chance.

"Ohh, you be careful," Alice warned her sister, hugging her tightly. Margaret seemed hopeful enough, but Alice wanted to be quite certain that her sister would not be disappointed again.

The 'welcome home' party was long and exhausting, but not very eventful. There were wine and sweets and fancy dishes, which Alice happily partook of. She kept a stern eye on Margaret's husband, who seemed just slightly meeker than last time. Good.

After a couple of hours the party eventually quieted and guests started to leave. Alice didn't want to risk the chance of having that new dream again, so she stayed out as late as she could. The stars were out and the last light from the sun was long gone before she eventually went to bed.

She couldn't entirely stop herself from sleeping though, and soon found herself having the dream all over again, for the fourth time.

**Is it getting better? I know the whole 'reunion' thing was extremely short, but these human mush-fests can be so boring, and they make for such a long wait when one is anticipating the exciting parts. So I skim.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Third chapter starts with a dream again! And now it FINALLY gets exciting.**

_The rabbit-hole. "You don't slay." 'So near so far so in-between.' The door with the key. 'Another day, another day!' The Jabberwocky snarling at her just before their battle. 'Oh Alice dear where have you been...'_

_"You could stay." 'Did someone pull you by the hand?' "Blood of the Jabberwocky." The purple vial of blood. "Back before you know it." 'You choose the path, perhaps you should be coming back!'_

_"Of course I will." The chessboard battlefield. 'Such a long long way to fall...' The ruined village of Hightopp, glowing embers still smoldering. 'No time today, no time today!'_

_Mallymkun and the March Hare throwing scones and sugar at one another. 'How many miles to Wonderland...?' The forest of giant mushrooms._

_'So much to gain.' Massive spiny wings, claws arching towards the sky, a lashing tail and fangs bared. 'So much to lose!' A long piercing howl. 'No time for tears today, no time for tears today!'_

_A blood-curdling roar of anguish!_

_'Oh how will you find your way...?'_

Alice leaped out of bed before she was even fully awake. She grabbed ahold of the bedpost to keep her balance, panting and shivering in the darkness.

Yet again she stared out the window. It was pitch black outside. She wasn't on the ship now though; she was back home. She sank to the floor, closing her eyes and pulling in a long, shuddering breath.

"How many miles to Wonderland..." she repeated to herself quietly, shaking her head and leaning it back against the bed. There was nothing else she could do but return- the dream had made that pretty clear.

She sighed, clenching her fingers, "If I don't go, this dream will just keep getting worse." Then she sat up straight again, opening and narrowing her eyes and frowning determinedly.

"I suppose it's about time for a visit anyhow," she decided with a slight huff, "Now only how am I supposed to _get_ there?" She thought for a moment, then quickly rose and walked over to where a clock hung from the wall. The time was... She squinted and leaned closer, barely able to see it in the dark.

It was about 3:20 in the morning. She could make it to the rabbit-hole on the Ascot Family's property, get to Underland, and return home before anyone woke up...

Still, maybe she should get a horse... Well, they did have horses for pulling the carriage, so she could probably take one of those. She snuck over to her door, watching and listening closely to see if anyone else was awake. There was no sign of anyone, except the sounds of snoring coming from one room.

Alice grinned and stepped quietly out the door, tiptoeing softly past the other rooms and avoiding the creaky places in the floor. Then she stopped.

Right; she was going to need something a little better to wear to Underland than her nightdress. Preferably something small or stretchy in case she had to deal with more of that pesky growing and shrinking.

Shrugging her shoulders, Alice crept quietly back to her room, and there selected a simple green dress and slipped it on. The last time she'd worn it had been a couple years ago, so it was a little tight, and therefore perfect. She would need to shrink to get through the small door, she reminded herself.

Still, it felt a little immodest, so she draped a thin shawl over herself and, satisfied, darted out the doorway again. Now to find those horses.

The moon was bright and nearly full, so at least she had plenty of light to see by. She peeked her head out the door and looked around for a moment before quietly slipping out and closing the door. There were a few thick clouds drifting across the sky, with a larger number behind them.

"Like an army of soldiers," Alice whispered to herself, remembering the battle between the red Cards and white Pawns. It'd been a source of great relief to learn that all the Cards had changed sides and joined the White Queen. The less killing, the better.

After another few minutes of careful sneaking and tiptoeing she finally reached the stables. The young lady was able to walk less cautiously here.

She had only to move slowly and calmly, so there was very little chance of the horses spooking. One was already awake, but he had an injured leg, so she couldn't take him.

A strong, healthy equine occupied the stall next to the injured one's, so Alice picked up a bridle, undid the latch, and stepped inside. The horse snorted and bobbed its head up and down.

"Hush," Alice told the creature, "It's just a quick ride to the Ascots' and then a quick ride back here. Now hold still." The horse didn't protest as she slipped the bridle over its head. It seemed to appreciate her patting its neck though, so she did that as she led the horse out of its stall.

Once outside, Alice walked the horse over to a small white bench. She stepped onto the seat, and then carefully swung herself up onto the horse's back. It was extremely different from the Bandersnatch, who'd been much broader and fluffier.

"Well," Alice grunted as she shifted her weight and nudged the horse's sides with her heels, "At least you're a bit lower to the round than the Bandersnatch. It's a little uncomfortable, being so high up."

The equine whinnied mildly, and Alice again shushed it. Then she urged the horse along the road, trying not to wince at the seemingly loud clopping sounds its hooves made in the quiet night.

The nearly-full moon shone brightly, which was both helpful and worrisome; Alice could see where she was going, but anyone looking outside would be able to see her. She twirled her hair into a long ponytail and set it over her right shoulder.

Hopefully anyone who happened to be on the road would leave her alone, thinking the thick hair was simply part of a thick neck, like a man's. ...Or not, seeing as she was wearing a dress. Ah well, nothing she could do about that.

Once far enough from the house and safely on the road, Alice urged the horse to move faster. The loud clop-clopping sounded even louder, and Alice tightened her hands on the reins.

"If only we could put some socks on you," she muttered regretfully. That would hopefully muffle the noise, but she wasn't sure if it would actually work, or if the horse would even let her. So the idea progressed no further than what it was: simply an idea.

The winding roads looked so different at night... In the darkness of night and under the light of the moon they appeared almost as magical or mysterious as some of the tamer places of Underland. Almost.

It was best though that she hurry and get to and from Underland as quickly as possible. There was no telling what would happen if anyone woke up and found her missing. Unfortunately, the faster the horse trotted, the louder the hoof-beats became.

Finally Alice gave up with an annoyed huff and roll of her eyes, abruptly directing the horse off the paths and across the grass. The horse whinnied shrilly as if surprised, or even indignant. Alice didn't bother to hide the grin that stretched across her face.

"What _would_ my mother think?" she laughed to herself, trying to picture the reaction she'd have to Alice's stealing a horse and riding all over the manicured grass to someone else's property. And all because of a dream! The thought made her laugh again.

"And what're _you_ laughing about?" a familiar voice demanded behind her. Alice gasped and whipped her head around in shock before she recognized who it was that she'd heard. Mallymkun!

"Oi! You _could_ slow it down a bit, you know!" the mouse scolded, seated behind the girl on the horse's back. Alice turned her head to look, then ducked as they road past a low-hanging branch. She still got leaves in her hair.

**Hooray for Alice, she's off to see the Underland, the wonderful Underland of... well... itself. Never mind. Oh, and who can guess what the giant thing in the water was, in the second chapter?**


	4. Chapter 4

**I know this chapter's a little shorter, sorry.**

"Mallymkun? What're you doing here? How'd you find me?" Alice asked, amazed at how it could be possible. "Wasn't hard," the dormouse scoffed, "with you ridin' around so noisily. The _trouble_ was getting _on_!"

The feisty dormouse gestured past the horse's bouncing tail, "You obviously didn't hear me calling you, an' I almost got hit in the 'ed by those hooves while I was climbin' up 'er tail!"

"This horse is a girl?" Alice asked. "Of course!" Mallymkun told her, surprised at this complete lack of knowledge, "Anyhow, I came t' bring _you_ back to Underland."

The girl smiled, excited, "Really? I've been having these dreams about i- wait, why?" "'Why' what?" "Why'd you come to find me? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, you **bet** it is! The-" A sudden boom from above and behind interrupted Mally, causing her and Alice to both jump in surprise. Thunder, maybe? The horse reared up with a loud whinny, front hooves pawing the air in fright.

"Whoa there!" Alice exclaimed, scrambling for a handhold. She grabbed onto the reins and clung to them, struggling to stay on, while the dormouse jumped and grabbed ahold of the girl's shawl to keep from falling off.

The equine tossed her head in fright and galloped forward, charging across the grass, leaping over bushes and almost hitting a small stone fountain. Alice figured she might as well use the horse's panicky speed to her advantage, and worked at steering the creature in the correct direction.

"Ohhh," Mally complained, trying to get a better grip as she climbed onto Alice's left shoulder, "Why're you out on this thing anyway?" "I was trying to get to Underland," Alice explained, "I guess we both had the same goal in mind!"

As the seconds raced by, filled with the pounding of hooves and the rush of wind, a noise slowly became audible. A steady, snapping 'Whuumf, whuunf' sound, like huge wings. Mallymkun looked around uncertainly, her little pink nose twitching.

"What _is_ that?" Alice asked as she looked around too, also hearing the noise but unable to find its source, "A giant bird?" "No," the mouse answered nervously, "It's th' reason we need you back in Underland! It's the Jabberwocky."

"WHAT?!" the young woman exclaimed, yanking back on the horse's reins in shock. The almost-calmed horse abruptly and gracelessly slowed, rearing up again in surprise and discomfort at the yanking.

Alice was thrown against the equine's neck and then dumped off, fumbling unsuccessfully at the rains and feeling them slip from her fingers as she fell. The dormouse leaped onto the horse's head, and the girl landed with a painful thump on the ground.

At least it was grassy, or she would've had several painful scrapes as _well_ as bruises. In any case, she hit her back, left shoulder and elbow, and her head a little bit. She let out a pained gasp upon impact, got her breath back a little, and then sat up slowly with a quiet groan.

The horse continued to gallop away, and Alice hauled herself up onto her feet with another soft groan. She staggered forward painfully, stretching out one hand in a vain attempt to reach the animal. She might not be able to get home in time without it, and even then, how would she explain the horse's disappearance to her family?

Oddly though, the creature halted after a couple seconds, dancing skittishly from one hoof to another and trotting back. As Alice approached it, grateful and a little confused that it'd returned, she saw that Mallymkun was perched on the horse's neck, holding the reins. Ah, that explained it.

"Thanks," she told the mouse, pulling herself onto the horse's back with some difficulty, "Now _how_ can it be the Jabberwocky?! I _killed_ it, remember?"

A roar from somewhere above them caused all three to panic, with the horse bolting ahead yet again. Alice kept a firm grip this time and hunkered down.

She glanced back and saw the huge, dark silhouette of the monster, caught a glimpse of its burning scarlet eyes. Ok, so Mally was right, it was back. But HOW?! AND WHY?!

Revenge? Probably. On orders from the banished Red Queen? Maybe.

But that didn't answer... "... How's it here? How's it even alive?" Alice demanded. Mally shook her head, holding tightly to the horse's mane, "I don' know! If I _did_, would I be 'ere at everyone's request, _fetch_in' you back?"

Behind them there was a loud hissing snarl, and then another boom rang out, sounding almost exactly like thunder but faintly quieter. The horse, spurred on by fear, raced ever more quickly, terrified of the huge beast and the loud noises it made. She did the running, Alice just did the steering.

Pounding hooves threw clods of dirt and grass behind them, tearing up the carefully maintained turf. It felt like only a few seconds passed before the trio- girl, horse, and mouse- reached the grove of trees where the entrance to Underland was located.

The equine had calmed a little, so Alice slid off and took the reins again. At the best run she could manage, she led the horse quickly towards the rabbit-hole. It was still there, she saw with a sigh of relief, right below the tall, ancient tree stump.

Another boom echoed farther away. Mally hopped off the horse and scurried over as Alice laid a hand on the tree-bark just to assure herself it was real. She nodded to herself and led the horse a little ways into the orchard, so it'd be hidden by a row or two of the still-growing trees.

She looped the long reins around a very thin branch on one of the trees. The branch was thin enough that the horse would stay tethered to it, but also be able to break free and run if the Jabberwocky found it. 'Her,' Alice corrected herself, remembering what Mallymkun had said.

She hurried back to the rabbit-hole, thrilled to see it and hardly able to believe that she was here, about to go back to Underland. Suddenly the horse screamed, rearing up beneath the protective leaf-canopy.

An enormous shape suddenly rushed past Alice, slashing down from the sky- huge claws at the end of a massive reptilian arm. The girl yelped, ducking and putting one arm over her head to protect herself from further aerial attacks.

The long, rat-like tail, studded with knobs and tufts of thin hair, swept past. Alice caught a glimpse of the tail before it hit her in the side, almost flinging her off of her feet and to the edge of the rabbit-hole.

"Mally?" she called, glancing around quickly. "Right here!" the mouse answered, popping up out of the grass by the old tree's roots, "Move it!" She scampered onto Alice's shoulder and grabbed hold of the fabric there, and the girl dove through the entrance to Underland.

Overhead, the enormous creature coasted to a stop just above the ground, lowering its hind legs onto the grass and slowly crouching down to glare down the hole. Its scarlet eyes blazed, and a soft snarl rumbled from between its fanged jaws.

The Jabberwocky lifted its head, expression smoothing into an almost amused scorn, and then flapped into the air with one beat of its wings. Suspended there in the dappled moonlight for barely a second, the long frills on its head shivered in the breeze... and it disappeared with a boom.

A thin burst of smoke was all that remained of its presence, and even this drifted away into the cool night air.

**WOOHOO! Finally, a confirmed appearance of the Jabberwocky! And don't worry, the horse didn't get killed or eaten, just startled and scared.**


	5. Chapter 5

**5th chapter is UP, woohoo!**

For a second time Alice tumbled down the rabbit-hole. This time she had a friend with her, at least, and knew what to expect.

But it was still a little disconcerting, falling down a nearly endless tunnel filled with random objects that fell or seemed to float.

Mallymkun seemed to enjoy it though- all she had to do was hold onto Alice's shawl! The mouse whooped and laughed almost all the way down, while the girl had to concentrate on avoiding the larger objects around them, down in the impossibly long tunnel.

Finally she crashed through the floor again, landing upside down with a thump on the ceiling. She turned around so that she was ready for the sudden reversal of gravity, and didn't hit her head this time as she felt back to the floor.

It still hurt, and she wasn't wearing a poofy dress this time to cushion either fall. At least she knew what to expect. The dormouse scurried down her arm onto the floor, and then to the round glass-topped table where the key and bottle of pishalver waited for Alice.

"I'll assume you _do_ know how to do it this time, right?" she asked the girl. Alice rolled her eyes and nodded, walking over to the table. She picked up the key and placed it on the floor, then uncapped the bottle and took a drink of the contents, grimacing as she remembered what the ingredients were. (Yuck.)

A quick bout of coughing, and Alice shrank down to almost the same height as the door to Underland. She readjusted her previously-tight dress, now overly-loose but mostly comfortable. The shawl was much too big now, so Alice shrugged it off her shoulders and, after looking for what to do with it, tied the cloth around her waist.

It looked good, she decided, and then wondered what the Hatter would think. He _had_ made that blue miniature dress for her, of course, while she was in the teapot...

"Hey!" Mally called, pulling and yanking on the heavy curtain on one wall, "You comin'?" Alice scooped up the key and ran across the room to Mally and the small Underland-door, ready and eager to return. Then she stopped.

"Hang on a moment," she told her friend, absently readjusting a strap of her dress. "What?" the mouse asked, mildly curious but mostly impatient, "What is it?"

Alice shrugged, frowning slightly as looking at the door, "It's just..." "Just what? Are we going or not?"

"It's just that I need a rest," the girl admitted, "I've hardly slept well for days, because of these nightmares I've been having, and then there was all that excitement to get here..."

She gave a firm sigh and crossed her arms, "If I'm going into this, and I know I'll have to defeat the Jabberwocky again, then I want to at least be well-rested for it." Mallymkun glared at her indignantly.

"It won't do for me to go all unprepared into battle," Alice explained crossly, folding her arms more tightly. The action caused her left fingers to touch the healed scars from the Bandersnatch, and she used these to emphasize her point, "Just look what happened the first time! And that was before I'd even _seen_ Jabberwocky."

The mouse rolled her eyes with an angry huff that sounded almost like a growl, "Oh _fine_. You wanna wait here while that big ol' monster does who-knows-what to Underland?"

"Give me, a chance, to catch, my breath," Alice insisted petulantly, each pair of words punctuated by a slight head-nod for emphasis. She kneeled down and then sat comfortably, leaning against a wall and watching Mally to see her reaction.

"Fine," the mouse huffed, "I'll go alone." And she jumped up to the door-handle, turned it with a click, and opened it up. Without the key. Alice stood up in surprise, "What? How'd you do that?"

"Do what?" Mallymkun retorted, holding the door open. "You opened it up," Alice told her, confused, "Without even using the key!"

"Yeh," the mouse stated, as if it were obvious, "**You're** not from Underland, so _you're_ the only one who needs a key to open its door. Me, McTwisp, everybody else, we don' need one." And with that proud statement, the mouse scampered out the door, letting it slowly swing shut behind her.

Alice sat down again and leaned back, surprised. "... Huh," she finally stated, tilting her head and giving a little shrug, "Guess that explains a bit."

She glanced around for a moment, then tugged off the shawl and lay down, using the large cloth as a pillow. She really needed some sleep. ...Unfortunately, she didn't get much.

'So near so far...' 'Please, Alice!' 'Long, long way...' 'Are you dreaming?' 'Nothing is quite what it seems!' 'No time for tears...' 'So much to lose!' 'No time!' 'Be careful!' 'Oh how will you find your way...?'

Alice woke with a searing jolt of panic, like a sudden, blazing flash of lightning racing up her spine and out through her head.

Her nightmare had been brief, but full of angry, snarling shrieks, and blazing crimson eyes and lashing claws and flashes of blinding light and deep darkness and-...! And something else. Something... horribly sad.

In any case she couldn't wait around any longer. She had to get to Underland now! Whatever the 'something' had been, it was making her skin crawl with a most uneasy sense of urgency.

She scooped up the key, flopped her shawl over one shoulder, and dashed towards the door. After a second of fumbling to unlock it, Alice opened the door and ducked through. And out she stepped into the brilliant morning light of Underland!

It was slightly cooler than she remembered, and several of the bushes had fewer leaves, but it was quite nice. Multicolored leaves drifting around in the breeze, and there was the faint smell of apples in the air, but that was only to be expected in early Autumn.

Not that it was Autumn in Uponland; actually there it was late _spring_, but time was a funny thing when it involved Underland, so Alice didn't need to worry. She was glad she'd brought her shawl though- the nights would probably be a little chillier now.

"Alice!" a familiar, gleeful voice greeted happily, and Alice turned to see the Hatter striding toward her. "Hatter!" she greeted, a huge smile on her face, and rushed over to him, and the two embraced one another with a huge hug.

"See?" Alice teased happily, her arms around her friend, "I remembered you!"

"Ohh and I'm so very glad that you did!" he replied cheerfully, holding her then at arm's length, "And you look absolutely lovely. Absolutely Alice, in fact!" He lifted one short sleeve of the dress between two fingers, tilting his head like a bird, "But I would suggest a few alterations to your apparel. It's a mite floppy."

Alice grinned and put a hand over her mouth, "I know, I'm sorry, but it was kind of on short notice." "Ah," her friend responded, tilting his head back as he said so, "Well then I can get this all fixed up back at the castle. Come on!" And he tugged her along by the hand.

"The castle?" Alice inquired as she ran just a little behind him, "Why there?" "I've been considering things that begin with the letter 'A,'" the Hatter told her cheerfully, "What? Oh, yes, the castle! Well mostly everyone had taken up lodgings there, you see."

"How come?" Alice asked, then remembered what Mallymkun had told her and what she'd seen, "Is it because of the Jabberwocky?" The Hatter stiffened slightly, and his fingers tightened around her hand.

"Aye. It is," he told her tensely, sounding just a bit Scottish.

Then he brightened, "But now that you're here, of course, you can go slay it all over again! And this time there's no rules, at least as far as _I_ know, so we'll be able to help you out as much as we want. And I know that _I_ certainly want to help!"

Alice smiled, honored by her dear friend's kindness and support. She was just a little nervous though. If the Jabberwocky had somehow survived having its head cut off, it must've been even more powerful than she'd thought. And now it'd be even more eager to kill her.

But at least, as the Hatter said, she wouldn't be alone. Or was that really a good thing?

"Hatter," Alice began quietly, "Um... Maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea, if you and everyone else were involved. I don't want to put anyone in danger." She gave an apologetic smile, "Especially my friends."

He frowned, looking like a little kid who was trying to figure something out. Finally he told her, slowing their pace, "But we were all in danger when we went to fight the Red Queen, too."

Alice shrugged in apology, "I know, and I was worried for you then as well. But now it's... I don't know, it just seems like it'd be even _more_ dangerous. I wouldn't want to force anyone to go into that."

The Hatter patted her hand with a smile, "Ah but my dear, we all _want_ to help. You wouldn't be forcing anybody!" Alice gave a small grin, "Wellll... I suppose I could allow it... if you promise to come out of this in one piece."

"But of course!" her friend replied cheerfully, tossing his hat into the air and catching with one hand, "I do _absolutely_ promise."

Alice smiled fondly and gently bumped her shoulder against his, "Thanks." ...She still worried though.

**Ahh, some fluff between Alice and the Hatter! Yes it's a pairing, but not heavily focused on in my story.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Greetings humans and non-humans! Are you enjoying this story? Much effort has been put into it.**

"Hey, I noticed there aren't as many dragon-flies around," Alice mentioned they waved to the huge flowers with faces. The Hatter shrugged, sounding just a little Scottish again, "Prob'ly because of the Jabberwock. They're too afraid t' come oot."

"Oh. I'd thought it was because it was Fall," Alice admitted. The Hatter looked puzzled, then glanced around in surprise, "Huh! So it is." He grinned at her as though they'd just discovered the answer to one of life's great mysteries. He looked so happy Alice just had to smile back.

A little farther up the path the two spotted a bloodhound, who was light brown with a saddle-marking of black across its back. The dog wagged its tail and barked happily, running up to them.

"Bayard?" Alice asked, thrilled but slightly confused as she knelt down and held out her hand. Maybe it wasn't him- this one seemed a bit smaller and lighter colored.

"No," the dog replied- the voice was female- as she licked the hand, "I'm his daughter: my name's Baira." She dipped her head to Alice, "Dad and the others are waiting at the castle. I volunteered to be your guide on the way there, Miss Lady Alice."

The girl grinned and rubbed the dog's ears, "Just Alice, Baira. And how'd you know I was here?" "The dormouse told me," Baira explained, her tail wagging, "She was rather impatient, and went back to the castle. C'mon!"

She turned around to lead the way, bouncing up and down and nodding toward the 'forest' where Alice first met Absalom, adding, "The Bandersnatch is over there, by the big purple mushroom."

Cleverly, the creature had chosen a spot that was well-hidden from the sky, concealed beneath the tops of several of the biggest mushrooms. It greeted Alice with a tooth-filled smile and a welcoming rumble, which the girl rewarded with a grin, fondly stroking the long fur.

"He's here to offer protection in case the Jabberwocky comes," Baira told Alice, loping alongside the girl as their group travelled onwards. They headed in the direction of the forest, full of shadows and mist (and actual trees!).

The Hatter looked around critically, "You know, I don't see what Chessur finds so likeable about this place. It's so depressing." "Mm, not really," Alice mused, "It's more like it's... mysterious. Honestly I enjoy shadowy settings: so many places in which to hide."

The young dog growled softly, "But so many places where something _else_ could hide too." The Hatter shuddered, glancing around suspiciously and agreeing quickly, "Very true, Baira, very true. Well, let's be going!"

He turned to address Alice almost confidentially, "We don't know where the ole beasty is at the moment, so it's best to be cautious." The nervous mood was contagious, and Alice was starting to get a little jumpy herself. So she nodded, "Good idea. I haven't been here in a while, so I've even less idea of where the Jabberwocky is than you do."

And the group quickened their pace. The drifting fog and twisted shadows were just the same as always, but were made creepy by the possibility of attack. Near the end of their trek through the forest, Alice came upon another question: "Where's Chessur?"

"Oh he's been on scouting patrols, of a sort," the Hatter explained, "What with those 'evaporating skills' he keeps bragging about, we figured he might as well put them to good use. So he's been flitting about, watching out for the Jabberwocky for us."

"Well that's kind of him," Alice mused. The group took an almost unanimous deep breath as they exited the woods and emerged out into the open. Off to the right Alice could see the long tables where the Hatter, March Hare, and Mally had tea.

The windmill had been partially repaired, with two of the sails already straightened and free of holes, so it looked far less depressing now. There was also a canopy erected over the table of tea and food so that it wouldn't get soaked by rain.

Alice wondered if the foods there were now open for hungry travelers, since nobody else seemed to be using it. She was just about to ask, when something erupted behind her.

Branches and clods of dirt and grass went flying as the group whirled around in shock. Almost blinded by debris, they saw there, at the edge of the forest... the Jabberwocky!

The Bandersnatch snarled, lunging forward to stand beside Alice as the Jabberwocky seemingly reared out of the ground. Scraps of bushes, roots, rocks and sticks exploded in all directions as the monster tore free of its hiding place.

Within a second of revealing its presence the Jabberwocky struck out with the claws of its right hand, tossing Baira and the Hatter aside as though they were ragdolls. The Bandersnatch, being larger and stronger, stayed in roughly the same spot, though stumbled a bit to the right.

A second sweep of claws and the Jabberwocky had already snatched up Alice, yanking her off the ground and spreading its wings with a shrill roar. It snarled in surprise as Baira attacked, clamping her teeth around its left arm, the one holding Alice.

The Hatter jumped up and caught hold of the reaching right arm, and began stabbing at it with the needles he kept in his hat. The Jabberwocky roared in pain, swatting at them with its claws and then leaning down its head to bite!

It couldn't, though, because the Bandersnatch leapt up and fastened its three rows of teeth in the left side of the monster's neck. Tearing and growling, the Bandersnatch's jaws lost their grip, sliding off the folds of skin as the Jabberwocky's neck twisted and tossed in a frantic attempt to escape.

The Bandersnatch scrabbled at the creature as he slid down its neck, claws raking the monster's throat and left shoulder before falling to the ground. Still the creature did not let go of Alice, even as Baira bit and yanked on the fingers holding the girl and the Hatter kicked the creature's arm and stabbed the base of its claws.

After nearly half a minute more of this onslaught though, with the Bandersnatch dragging down its left wing-tip, Baira biting its hand, the Hatter stabbing its fingers, and Alice twisting and punching and kicking, the Jabberwocky finally let go.

Actually it threw, sort of. The creature managed to lift its left arm- with the dog, girl, and hatter weighing it down- and tossed Alice to the ground several feet away. She landed in the rocky dirt, sending a puff of dust into the air

At the girl's gasp of pain, the Bandersnatch released the mangled wingtip and rushed to her aid, followed by Baira and Tarrant. (Tarrant the Hatter stayed a second longer to stab the Jabberwocky's hand again.) Thus released, the creature pulled away and flapped haphazardly into the air.

Its tail made a swipe at the girl, but this was blocked by the Bandersnatch, who tore bloodied strips of skin from the tail-tip. A long, tooth-snapping growl from the Jabberwocky made him pause a second, and then he immediately resumed his biting.

Finally the Jabberwocky gave up, shaking its tail free and crashing away along the curving edge of the forest. It disappeared from view behind the trees and slight slope of a hill after a moment.

Baira stalked after it a few feet and then stayed there, keeping watch in case the monster decided to return. Meanwhile the Hatter knelt next to Alice, who was slowly sitting up with a groan.

When asked where she was most injured, she gingerly fingered her left elbow and hip. "I landed on my left side, I think, when he threw me," she explained, grimacing in pain. The Hatter looked her over, carefully examining the injured spots.

He patted her gently on the right hand, reassuring, "They don't seem too serious. I'm afraid you'll have some nasty bruising though..."

The girl nodded, clenching her teeth a little as she touched her side. A bit uncertainly, the Hatter offered, "Aa, would you like me to um, carry you?"

Alice looked up in surprise, "No. No, there's no need to, I can walk. And you must have been hurt too, when it shoved you and Baira, and the Bandersnatch. Are _you_ all alright?"

Tarrant the Hatter smirked and rotated a sore shoulder, telling her with a Scottish accent, "Ahck, I'll be fine. Th' feel'v sticking that ol brute more th'n makes up for any injuries I may've gott'n." He paused a moment to admire the look of Jabberwocky-blood on his needles, ignoring the shallow scratches on his arm. "Baira, 'Snatch, how 'bout yoo?"

The Bandersnatch wuffled and shook his head, his fur and small ears flapping, and stomped the ground lightly with one paw. He had a thin gouge along his right side from the Jabberwocky's overgrown teeth, but he was ok.

Baira was limping a little; she'd sprained a paw when the Jabberwocky had smacked her and the Hatter, and her jaws ached from so much biting, but she was fine as well.

Alice tore a long strip from her shawl and wrapped the young bloodhound's paw- with help from the Hatter- and used another large scrap to pad the Bandersnatch's wound. The furry creature licked his makeshift bandage, and Alice placed it firmly on his injury.

With nothing more to be done, the small group continued on. They kept an eye out for the Jabberwocky at all times, and the furry ones kept a nose out as well.

About half way to the castle, past the slowly-being-rebuilt village of Hightopp, Baira sounded an alarm. The others turned to see her barking and growling, bristly-furred, at the distant shape of the Jabberwocky. It was much too far away even to hit them with its purple lightning-like fire.

Though everyone readied themselves to fight, the monster made no attempt to attack again, or catch up with them. It flexed its claws and glared though, tail slowly lashing back and forth like an impatient cat being denied the chance to capture its prey.

Slowly they continued their trek onwards, watching the creature follow them but unable to really do anything about it. The four even took turns walking backwards to watch the trailing monster. This didn't work so well for the four-legged Bandersnatch and Baira, so Tarrant and Alice did most of the backwards-walking.

It was unnerving seeing the gigantic creature following them, almost eerie. There was the monster, right there, waiting to get them... And they couldn't do anything about it.

**Helloooo! I gave Baira a name starting with 'B' 'cause her parents both have 'B' names, so I figured maybe it was traditional for bloodhounds in Underland to have names starting in 'B.' REVIEW IF YA WANT! I will reply to any review, by username, in whatever chapter I post after the review appears. Did I write the Hatter's accent correctly?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello again! Also, beware of a little bit of blood in this chapter. It's not too gory, but I just thought I'd warn any who are sensitive to it.**

Finally, the little group was in sight of the castle, with its pale-colored cherry trees marking its entrance like living flags. Alice glanced around to look. It was too far away to see much detail, but guards were visible all around the perimeter, and Alice was both shocked and saddened when she saw the reason for this.

Huge gaping holes and scorch-marks covered the sides of the beautiful castle, marks undoubtedly made by the Jabberwocky. Alice shook her head in disbelief, "Why would it do this? Could it be acting under orders from the Red-"

She cut off as the monster that'd been tailing them suddenly charged, and she and the Hatter shouted a warning. The Jabberwocky was already rapidly closing the great distance between them with long, awkward bounds. It jumped and took flight, barely keeping its wings above the ground for the first couple flaps and then slowly gaining altitude.

The Bandersnatch moved again to stand between Alice and the raging Jabberwock, and for a moment Alice felt humbled by his loyalty. She tightened her grip around the end of a long dead branch she'd picked up along the way, the only thing she had for a weapon.

Tarrant had a branch too, but he'd snapped the end off to make it sharper. Perhaps because he was so proficient at needlework, he preferred a weapon of a poke-y nature rather than a slice-y one.

Their little group hurried in the direction of the castle as the Jabberwock drew nearer, hoping to get just a little closer to safety and reinforcements before it could catch up. But the castle and its guards were still quite a distance ahead, far enough that the guards could hardly be seen, and the great building itself resembled a toy.

Having only short-range weapons, they had to wait until the Jabberwocky caught up before they could do anything to it. "Oh what I wouldn't give for a bow..." Alice muttered to herself, readying her branch.

The Jabberwocky flapped higher, roughly thirty feet in the air, then dove! Its wings folded back and it stretched out its clawed hands, letting out a ferocious, snarling roar. The Bandersnatch answered back with a bellow of his own, baring all three rows of teeth.

The winged monster swooped just above Alice's head, claws snatching and flailing at her. She dropped to the ground and slapped at the creature with her branch, hoping to at least give it a scrape or something. It made a sound almost like laughing as it whirled into the air again and prepared for another dive.

It glanced in the direction of the castle, twitched its head back at seeing something, and then dove again. This time the Bandersnatch jumped at it head-on, clawing at its head and neck. Startled, Alice noticed that the gouges and scratches from earlier were gone. No trace was left of the previous injuries, either on its head, arms, left wing, _or_ tail!

Dark blue drops of blood fell to the ground beneath. The Jabberwocky shook its head roughly, trying to _fling_ the Bandersnatch off of its face as it roared and hissed and clacked its huge fangs. The furry creature gave a loud, barking growl and pulled away, unconsciously loosening his grip. Because of this, the Jabberwocky was able to throw him off.

Baira, leaping and snapping up at the reptilian monster, was too close as the Bandersnatch landed, and yelped as she got nicked by his claws. He huffed to her in apology, and turned back to growl loudly at their gigantic foe, still flapping above them and shaking its head in pain.

It delivered a scathing hiss directed at the group, a bizarrely deep, angry shriek aimed directly at the foursome. The Bandersnatch rolled his shoulders and pulled his head back, growling, and Alice realized that the two might be actually _talking_ together!

The Jabberwocky shook its head again, the new scratches vanishing as its frills spun and flopped in the air. It stopped and arched its neck to glare at the group, giving another long snarl before it dove yet again. Its front claws managed to hook around Alice's right arm even as she leaped out of the way.

The claws on the creature's right hand dragged her forward several feet, and the left hand blindly snatched at her as well. Instantly they hooked around the girl and swept her off the ground, curling tighter as they pulled up.

"_Finally_," Alice heard the Jabberwocky hiss, its hands almost squishing her. She yanked at the thick fingers, trying to pry them off of herself. She noticed suddenly that Tarrant was actually up there with her; he was clinging to the monster's left wrist and jabbing it with the sharp point of his branch

He was also yelling in Scottish. The Jabberwocky growled contemptuously, "**Get** off meee," and reached out its other hand to pull the Hatter off. But then it suddenly lurched in midair, and quickly turned to look down.

Baira was dangling from the creature's right hind leg, gnawing on it just above the ankle. The Bandersnatch was pulling on the Jabberwocky's tail again, dragging it down with his weight.

Furious, the Jabberwocky retaliated with a blast of flaming lightning, which scorched the earth just to the furry one's left side. The Bandersnatch jumped in surprise, but didn't let go, merely shook his head and lunged in the opposite direction.

The young bloodhound gave a vicious shake of her teeth, which were still clamped around the Jabberwocky's leg, and swung down to land on the ground beside the Bandersnatch. Then she immediately jumped up and landed on the Jabberwocky's tail, where she clawed at its skin and grabbed a thin tuft of its hair.

She yanked, and the Jabberwocky hissed in pain, writhing and trying to pull away. Baira twisted her head and ripped at the hairs. In response the monster folded its wings, landed, and turned around to snarl at her.

The dog whimpered nervously, scared, but she didn't back down and neither did the Bandersnatch. The Jabberwocky hissed, flicking out its long, forked tongue ('It grew back?' Alice wondered, startled) and advancing, its body curving into a 'C' shape.

Baira stepped back but maintained her grip on the tuft of tail-hair, her eyes wide with fear. The monster's wing-claws took slow, almost delicate steps as it arched its head closer to the two furred creatures. Alice kicked and struggled in its hand, hoping to slip free and distract it or assist Baira.

Suddenly the Jabberwock, its fanged jaws just a couple feet from Baira, opened its mouth and let out a blast of lightning, just barely missing the left side of the brave canine's head. She yelped and flinched to her right, letting go of the monster's tail-hairs.

The Jabberwocky let out a shrill, pleased-sounding snarl, instantly flapping into the air again now that it was rid of the dog's painful grip. The Bandersnatch was still holding it down though, but the Jabberwocky looked willing to let its own tail get ripped off to be free of him.

The Hatter tried to swing himself up and onto the creature's wing so he could unbalance it, but there was too great a chance that he'd fall. The Jabberwocky strained its wings, muttering to itself as it pulled and pulled, slowly dragging its mauled tail- and the Bandersnatch- with it.

Suddenly the beast let out a howl of pain, lurching to the right and tilting downwards, wings pinwheeling frantically. A long red spear protruded from its left side, just below the ribs and above the belly. Dark blue blood went streaming down its side and underbelly, raining onto the dry ground.

Everyone turned to see an army of White and Red Knights, over to the left side, charging toward them. Finally, the cavalry had arrived! One of the card-shaped Red Knights had thrown the spear, and a White Pawn gave him a quick high-five.

With a hoarse roar, the Jabberwocky collapsed, the hand that held Alice falling curled beneath its chest. Another spear struck the dirt just past its back. The Bandersnatch released the creature's tail and galloped closer, while Tarrant scrambled free and tried to pull Alice out from under the heavy monster.

Said-monster huffed, its neck curling tightly so that its head was by its left shoulder, blocking the others' reach. Alice, still clutched in the Jabberwocky's right hand, struggled to escape.

Astonishingly, she hadn't been flattened by the creature landing on her. Its left arm stretched out, holding its front just high enough off the ground so that it hadn't crushed the girl. The straining arm quivered, and its owner dragged itself forward, rolling slightly and putting the weight onto its right elbow.

"So close..." it hissed, panting and baring its teeth straining again to pull away. Alice leaped halfway out of the Jabberwocky's hand, but it tightened its grip, causing her to flop chin-first onto the ground. Ouch.

Another spear sliced through the top of its neck, cutting the skin there with a ripping sound and spurt of blood, and the Jabberwocky shrieked in pain. Its grip loosened on Alice, and Tarrant yanked her free. As he pulled the staggering girl away, she heard the Jabberwocky moan, a harsh growling wheeze, "_Not **again**!_"

As yet another spear nicked its back-leg as the Jabberwocky turned and yanked out the first weapon, howling sharply and stumbling away. It tossed the bloodied spear at the fast-approaching army, squeezing its eyes shut and clenching its teeth as the wounds somehow closed.

With a mighty heave of its wings the Jabberwocky flung itself into the air, hovering there raggedly for a moment. It looked about to attempt grabbing Alice up with its tail, but the White Queen's army was too close.

With a snarl of frustration, it turned and flapped unsteadily away, defeated again.

A cheer rose up from the White and Red soldiers, who slowed their charge and came to a halt beside the foursome. Alice was scratched, scraped, and seriously bruised all over. Tarrant had a badly injured left arm, possibly cracked, and also had a long scratch along his right shoulder.

Baira had a dislocated hind leg, still had a sprained front paw, and a mild burn on her left shoulder. The Bandersnatch's cut had reopened, he had two long gashes on his chest, and also a badly bruised hind-paw.

The red and white soldiers helped them back to the castle, where their injuries would be attended to. The cards and pawns treated Alice almost like a princess, thanks to her earlier heroism the last time she'd been to Underland. Still she insisted that more of the credit go to her friends.

Along the way she used another large piece of fabric from her shawl to pad the Bandersnatch's new injuries, and used the remaining fabric -and a strip from her dress- to make a sling for the Hatter. His scratches were bad, but his arm was causing a bit more pain.

Alice volunteered to carry Baira, but with her multitude of heavy bruising it was too hard. So one of the White Pawns carried the young bloodhound instead, which was a great relief to both.

Once back at castle, the foursome had their wounds tended to. Afterwards, they- minus the Bandersnatch- explained what had happened, regarding their experience with the Jabberwocky.

"It's been terrorizing the kingdom for nearly two weeks now," the White Queen explained sadly, "Starting just a couple days after its corpse mysteriously vanished. That was less than a day after you returned to Uponland, Alice." The girl wondered if such a thing had ever happened before.

"Well this is entirely new territory, according to _my_ studies," the White Queen admitted, her left hand nervously tapping invisible piano-keys in the air.

"There are no records in Underland's history of the Jabberwocky being slain or coming back to life before your defeat of it. This is the first time such a thing has ever happened."


	8. Chapter 8

**This is getting more exciting, I hope? I know people are reading this. So, what do you think? Any guesses about what's going to happen? Any advise, ****suggestions, ****or questions? (I have made a rhyme.) It is the ninth of January and the lack of reviews is getting scary.**

Alice took a deep breath and slowly let it out, her eyes wide. The others, gathered in the archives room with her, watched.

So, the girl summarized silently, something like this had never happened before. That was ok, she'd just have to deal with it, like she had last time.

'Better than last time,' Alice firmly corrected herself, 'This time I'm ready, and I know it isn't a dream.' She was a little contemptuous of that mistake she made last time: thinking none of it was real.

"It's alright," she promised aloud, "I beat him last time, and I'll do it again." "You'll not be without help," the Hatter reminded her with a Scottish accent, "We're all here to lend a hand."

Alice smiled at him, "Thanks." Then she frowned, "Are you sure that's alright though? Last time, I was supposed to face it alone." "And you did," the White Queen reminded her, "You defeated the Jabberwocky fair and square. You are still Underland's champion, and we will follow your lead."

"Thank you," Alice told her, "But are you really sure you'd all want to? You could all get hurt, and I've no idea what the Jabberwocky is planning." A powerful roar echoed through the castle walls as she finished speaking, and everyone looked around nervously.

A red knight came hurrying into the archives room where Alice and the others were gathered. They all looked up expectantly as the card-shaped Knight bowed and addressed the queen.

"Your majesty," he told her, "The Jabberwocky has destroyed over half the roof on the eastern side of the castle. Also says it wants to negotiate with you and the Champion."

"But that thing doesn't negotiate," Alice protested, "It kills!" "Yey're right on _that_ wun," Tarrant agreed, his voice heavily Scottish. The White Queen dipped her head and raised both hands in a delicate 'please be quiet' gesture at them, "I'll handle this."

She turned to speak with the Red knight, "Thank you for the report. If the Jabberwocky will listen, tell it I am willing to discuss matters peacefully, and our Champion shall come only if she chooses." The Red knight bowed again, and hurried off.

The queen nodded to herself, turning around to face Alice and lifting her eyebrows in silent question. Alice grimaced but followed her out of the room, with the Hatter and Baira close behind.

After a few moments the y stepped out onto one of the balconies the castle had. This one was near the back and was, strategically, the most enclosed and protected of all the balconies. The fact that about a third of the White pawns and a fourth of the Red cards were there, and armed, didn't hurt matters either.

The Jabberwocky, unable to fly very close because of several gigantic statues blocking its wings, hovered impatiently outside. It had taken a break from destroying less-defended parts of the castle, apparently, a fact which all were grateful for.

The White Queen emerged from the doorway onto the balcony, accompanied by Alice, the Hatter, and a couple more guards. Baira sat in a corner by the door with one of her brothers, resting her legs a bit.

"You certainly take your time," the Jabberwocky growled darkly as Alice and the White Queen approached. "That _happens_ when one needs to exercise caution," the queen retorted primly.

The Jabberwocky's loud, derisive snort made all the soldiers raise their weapons for a second. "Now," the queen continued more firmly, eying the Jabberwock, "What is it you wish to discuss?"

"A rematch," the creature growled slowly, flapping a little higher and landing atop one of the massive statues directly to their right. White and Red knights all turned to point their weapons at him.

"A rematch between myself and the human," the Jabberwocky continued, blood-red eyes narrowing at Alice, "At a location of my choosing, and as soon as possible."

"Are you really so eager to be decapitated again?" Alice challenged, striding forward a couple steps. The creature lifted its head slowly, eyes half-lidded with a sneering expression of calm disgust. The White Queen gave Alice a warning look and addressed the Jabberwocky.

"Very well," she declared, "At a place of your choosing. But **we** will decide _when_ this battle takes place." The creature narrowed its eyes dangerously, its tail slowly lashing back and forth as a quiet hiss issued from its throat. Finally it rumbled grudgingly, "When?"

Alice shrugged defiantly, "It doesn't matter to me." "In two days' time, then," the White Queen declared. The Jabberwocky's wings immediately flared to the sides, causing the Cards and Pawns to raise their weapons as the monster bared its teeth with a furious snarl.

"Unacceptable!" the creature roared, glaring and scraping its claws harshly against the edges of the statue it crouched upon, "Tomorrow is the _latest_ I shall tolerate." "Fine, by, me," Alice called, glaring steadily and punctuating each word with a slight head-twitch, "Tomorrow morning will see you dead once and for all!"

"Alice," the queen murmured warningly, just as the Jabberwocky folded its wings with a satisfied smirk. "Very well," it hissed, smiling darkly "And thisss time there are no rules." The girl nodded firmly, crossing her arms, "Fine."

"Before the first light of dawn I will inform your messengers exactly where our battle shall occur, and they will tell me exactly when. Until then, human!" With a last, evil smirk, the enormous creature leapt off the statue, spread its wings, and soared away.

Everyone let out a breath of relief. The queen shook her head in worry, "Alice, that was _very_ dangerous. We have no idea what that creature is planning." "Ahh, she'll best the ol' beastie," the Hatter declared. Alice noticed he was being Scottish more often now.

"Of course I will," Alice promised, "Besides, it even said that there are no rules. So everyone who still wants to fight can help out." "And what if the Jabberwocky brings an army of its own?" Baira's brother piped in, and his sister agreed: "If it's managed to come back from the dead, _and_ reach Uponland, who knows what else it could do."

"Um," Alice mumbled, suddenly a little worried, "right." Maybe she had been a bit overconfident. And hasty. "Didn't _think_ of that bit, _did_'ju?" Mallymkun- standing on the balcony's stone rail- asked, crossing her little arms and lifting an eyebrow.

The White Queen sighed, "Well, there's nothing to be done for now, except prepare." Alice agreed. She'd like something to focus on instead of worrying what her mistake could cost everyone.

Two knights collected the armor and she put it on, then practiced sword-fighting stances and motions in it. The suit, being made of metal, was heavy thought not terribly so. And after a long while at sea and in other countries, Alice had grown a little stronger.

When she'd practiced a couple hours, and gotten used to the feel of the Vorpal Sword in her hands again, she took a break to eat dinner. Thackery, the March Hare, was now the official castle cook, and spent much of his time preparing food in the kitchen.

He was quite good at it, though tended to get distracted by talking to the ingredients and cooking utensils, and throwing them about. Alice was glad to see him, though he did throw a leek at her head.

Dinner was had in the castle dining hall, though it was wonderfully informal, and everyone who wanted to could attend. Bayard and his family, the Hatter, McTwisp, the Dodo, and several others were there. Not everyone fit at the table, so a couple sat contentedly on the floor with Alice.

Once dinner was over, Alice did a little more practice, and discussed rudimentary battle plans with the White Queen- who was disturbingly good at envisioning such things. Finally, exhausted by the events of the day, Alice retired to bed.

It was a lovely mid-sized room, decorated in lavender and soft blue, very soothing colors. Yet Alice couldn't seem to relax. She paced the room, wandered the castle a little, and came back. She looked outside at the moonlight, wondered how it was possible for a moon to be in Underland, and tried to go back to bed.

After several hours of tossing and turning, and then pacing again, Alice managed to drift off to sleep- almost. A loud noise outside the castle snapped her back to wakefulness as surely as a bucket of cold water would've.

She sat up slowly, uncertain of what the noise had been. Had it been far away, or right outside? The answer came when the sound was repeated: a raspy, howling roar off in the distance. Shoving the covers off, Alice got up and walked the four or five steps needed to get to the window.

Far off, on the edge of a sloping moonlit cliff or steep hill, she saw the long dragon-like silhouette of the Jabberwocky. Her worst nightmare, literally.

The creature was standing tensely near the edge of the cliff, stretching out its neck towards the west, which was to the right of the castle. It extended its wings straight up until they shivered at the tips, stretching out its neck and emitting the same hoarse howling noise.

It was a sad sound, but what could the gigantic monster have to be sad about? Guilt, maybe, for destroying the village of Hightop? Regret for destroying other places, and people? Somehow Alice doubted that.

The creature's head suddenly swung around to face the castle. Its crimson eyes glowed ominously in the darkness, and Alice had the sudden thought that the creature was staring directly at her.

"Impossible," she muttered to herself with a scoff. Then again, she was in Underland, where there were six, seven, eight, who-knew-how-many impossible things!

So it was all too likely that the Jabberwocky was looking directly at her. ...She didn't get any sleep for the rest of the night.


	9. Chapter 9

**WOOHOO, I got a review! Thank you ever so very much, BreezyLavelle! I'd almost decided to not update until I got a review, and I'm thrilled to get a review from ya! :D And it's ok, I don't mind if it's short or anything. (I'm really awkward when it comes to conversations in-person with most people, so please don't feel bad.)**

**To the story! WHOO!**

When the Jabberwocky returned, nearly an hour before dawn, Alice was already up. Having failed to get even an hour of real sleep, she'd gone wandering the castle again.

Hearing the enormous creature's flapping wings, she hurried to a window to watch the exchange between it and the guards assigned to... information-exchange-duty, or whatever it was called. She crouched down, edging one side of her face carefully around the border of the window.

She saw the Jabberwocky landed a safe distance away from the guards in front of the castle, folding its purplish wings up by is sides. The guards- more of them than necessary, and all armed- relayed the Queen's chosen time for the battle.

Alice had participated in the making of this decision and was comfortable with the decided time. The Jabberwocky informed the knights of its chosen location for said-battle, somewhere between the Outlands and Chess-board battlefield.

The knights- mostly Red Cards with a few White Pawns- nodded in response and waiting for the creature to leave. There was a brief, slightly awkward pause in which nothing happened for a while.

The monster smirked and turned leisurely to leave, its tail sliding smoothly across the ground like a snake's. Then at the last second the creature turned its head and looked squarely at Alice.

She gasped , fingers tightening their grip on the window sill as she pulled back slightly in surprise and a hint of fear. The monster's glittering red eyes narrowed contemplatively, a considering look of mild interest or amusement crossing its features.

It was as if the creature could tell exactly what Alice was thinking and was amused by it... Also as if it knew how easily it could spring at the castle and snatch Alice right out of the window...

Then the Jabberwocky spun around, leaped into the air with a flap of its wings, and soared away. Alice let out a huge breath she hadn't realized she was holding and sank to the floor, shivering slightly, eyes wide.

She'd been nervous and afraid the first time she'd faced the Jabberwocky. Then with her friends and allies at her side, she'd boldly challenged it less than a day ago.

Now it felt like every ounce of confidence had been drained right out of her by those ruby eyes, leaving her cold and frightened. She tried to reassure herself that it was just an overgrown lizard, and that she cold easily defeat it again.

But something was telling her that she might be wrong on both accounts. The Jabberwocky was smart, she was sure of that. What was it planning?

Alice shook her head firmly at herself and stood, determined not to succumb to any fear. Whatever happened: she was Underland's Champion and her friends were there to help her.

She had defeated the Jabberwocky before, and she would do it again. At least that was what she told herself, as a prickle of unease made her shiver.

Then she took a deep breath and walked resolutely away from the window to get some rest, eat, and prepare for battle.

**... *time skip* ... *time skip* ... *time skip* ... *bla bla bla* ...**

The terrain was barren and rocky, with enormous rough boulders scattered everywhere. Alice could see why the 'Outlands' would be near such a place- it was empty and gloomy and... somehow unnerving.

Alice shook off the creepy feeling. After a bit of food and some reassurances from everyone, she was feeling much better. Reminding herself that everyone was counting on her to protect them though, that was what made her even more determined.

Over half of the knights had been ordered to remain at the castle though. This was in case the battle might be some kind of diversion for an attack on the castle. They'd seen no evidence of the Red ex-Queen or knave being involved, but it was best to be ready for anything, instead of unprepared for the unexpected.

Alice looked up as one of the White Pawns let out a gasp. She couldn't see the Jabberwocky anywhere in the sky- which was thick with clouds even during mid-morning.

Then she spotted it- there! Only it wasn't approaching from the sky. Several massive boulders, arranged in a rough pile, shifted apart, with purplish light crackling and sparking between them.

A loud hiss issued forth as the Jabberwocky snaked its head out from the shadows in the center, eyes narrowed and tongue flicking rapidly. Everyone backed up, readying their weapons.

They gathered behind Alice and around, ready to protect her as she was ready to defend them. She'd be the one doing the most fighting, after all. (True, everyone was allowed to help, but it was still mostly Alice's job to do the real killing.)

With a burst of lightning and a shower of dust and debris, the enormous creature flung the heavy rocks aside, practically exploding from its hiding place. It was quite the entrance.

The Jabberwocky slunk forward, its crimson eyes burning and it head swaying high above the ground. Apparently it had learned from the first time, when Alice had cut off its tongue.

This time it would be careful not to make the same mistakes, she knew. This time would be a lot harder.

The Vorpal Sword felt heavy in her hands, as did the armor she wore. This might've been due to her still-healing bruises, or the worry that she might again fail to rid Underland of the monster for good.

Alice took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves and appear calm. She looked up at the creature defiantly and told it, "Once you're dead, I'm going to cut you up into a thousand pieces, so you can never threaten anyone ever again!"

(Tarrent poked her shoulder from behind: "Nice one!" Alice turned her head fractionally to give him a small grin.)

The Jabberwocky sneered, baring its teeth with an expression of contempt. "You think this to be the final battle, do you?" it rumbled, "You are sorely mistaken then, pitiful human." The creature disdainfully flicked out its tongue at the end of the growl, almost like a scoff.

"Why?" the girl called, "Do you plan on sticking around to keep terrorizing everyone?" The Jabberwocky flicked out its tongue again scornfully, looking as though it were smirking, "Hardly."

The creature lifted its head to calmly observe Alice's companions, and then asked in smugly mocking tones, "Do you intend to fight me from behind the safety of your fawning subjects, girl?"

It lazily flicked a claw to point at them, "If I remember correctly, you'd said you didn't want any of them harmed." The tooth-filled jaws snapped open and a spout of electric flame burst from it. Everyone, including Alice, flinched back, if only slightly. "And, well, _you're_ the one with the _shield_..." It trailed off suggestively with a shrug.

The Hatter held Alice's arm to stop her from stomping out to face the monster, "No, Alice, don't! You'd only be doing exactly what it wants."

The creature's tail suddenly whipped along the ground in an arc, knocking over everyone in a ten-foot radius. They all scrambled to their feet again, assuring one another that they were fine, and glaring resentfully at the huge, smirking monster.

Said-monster was now slowly circling the large group, strolling along at an almost leisurely pace, like a cat circling injured prey. Everyone turned and shuffled around to face the creature, not wanting to have their backs turned on it for even a second.

"So who are you really trying to protect?" the Jabberwocky asked, lazily swishing its tail along the ground, scraping a stone here or there with its claws, "Them...? Or yourself?"

"Seeing as your devoted followers _are_ your shield..." the creature went on casually, "... it's hardly surprising that some of it will end up... scorched." Another burst of electric flame, this time frighteningly close to several of the Pawns; three or four recoiled in pain and clutched at lightning-inflicted wounds.

"Alright STOP IT!" Alice shouted, charging a couple of steps from her sheltered spot. The Hatter reached to grab the girl's arm but missed, as Alice ran around the other side of the group.

She stood between them and the Jabberwocky, and shouted at it, "Leave them out of this! This fight is between you and me, and the only reason you've not brought your own army is that no one would ever follow you!"

The Jabberwocky bristled in fury at the girl's words, his eyes burning with rage. Rage and... something else. Pain? No, it couldn't possibly be. And yet there was something, like an echo of the cry she'd heard in her dream...

"You'd be surprised," the Jabberwocky rasped, narrowing its eyes. It spread its great wings and let out a shrill roar of challenge, a sound that made the earth rattle and the clouds shudder.

And with that ear-rupturing battle cry, it charged!


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry, I know this chapter's a bit short. Oh well. SO!**** Any guesses, advice, questions, etc? I eagerly await more reviews! Only one excellently grand person has reviewed so far, and I very much appreciate it. But authoresses cannot live on... single... reviews... alone. Whatever.**

**Ok, so I haven't been putting much heart and soul into posting this story, at least not as much as my Transformer ones- which I've been posting sporadically but for a very long time. You want chapters ****more quickly, then Review! Please. It encourages/forces me to do better at updating. Also... maybe if I get enough reviews, then in every chapter I will mention one or two crazy things you'd only hear at my family's home. And believe me, they are crazy things. SO REVIEW PLEASE!**

The creature leapt at the assembled army, tossing two rows of Pawns to the side with a swipe of its claws. At the same time the Jabberwocky unleashed a blazing torrent of lightning-fire into the air, swinging its powerful head back and forth. Everyone still standing had to duck or flatten to the ground to avoid getting burnt.

Alice, standing to the right of her army, crouched down just as the fire swept by- singing her hair. The instant the scorching blast stopped, she leaped forward with the Vorpal sword held straight out, aiming for the monster's lowered left wing.

A couple Pawns ran after her, but something dropped from the sky and swooped between them, sending Alice and a third of the others diving for cover again. Clambering to her feet again, Alice turned around to stare in shock at the thing which had attacked. It was the Jub Jub Bird!

The black-and-white avian swept itself into the sky and dove again, its speckled wings tucked in close to its body. Its pointed beak was wide open and shrieking as it descended, flipping its claws forward in one swift motion and yanking a soldier off the ground.

Something swept past Alice from behind, hitting her legs below the knee. She fell to the ground with a startled gasp at the heavy blow, quickly losing that breath as she hit the ground and all the air was forced from her lungs.

Wheezing for air, she raised her head as fast as she could, causing dark spots to flicker through her sight. The thing that'd swept her legs from under her- the Jabberwocky's tail- swept back again, this time from the front. It collided with her head and left shoulder, shoving her backwards.

Her armor clattered and scraped against the rocky terrain, though she barely noticed, stunned by the blow to her head. After maybe a fraction of a second or maybe several minutes the motion stopped, the blackness receding from her vision.

The girl dragged her hands out in front of herself, and pushed herself up onto her knees. Tarrant was racing toward her from the main group of soldiers, and Alice felt a hopeful smile lift her face.

It vanished as the Jub Jub Bird swooped past again, throwing the Hatter to the ground. Baira leaped up to snap at the bird's tail feathers as it swept past, but Alice didn't see if she caught it. The Jabberwocky shoved her away from the others again, this time with a swipe of its claws.

Alice fell over onto her back, but struggled up again. Miraculously, she hadn't let go of the sword before, but it was now missing from her hands. Oh- there it was! Just a few feet away, lying on the ground.

She staggered forward, but before she could get more than a couple steps, the Jabberwocky stepped in front of her. It snatched the weapon between two of the fingers on its wing.

"No-!" Alice started to say, but the creature had already flung the sword away, flung it like someone would fling a twig they'd found in their hair.

Then, almost in slow motion, the monster turned its head back towards her. Alice backed up, eyes darting frantically in search of something to keep the monster at bay so she could retrieve the sword.

Picking its way slowly across the rock, the Jabberwocky's scarlet eyes were widened enormously, glowing as it stared unwaveringly at girl. Said-girl glanced behind her at a huge, rough boulder, then picked up a rock in one hand and hurled it at the monster.

The rock completely missed the Jabberwocky's head; the creature simply snaked to one side and the stone sailed harmlessly past. It glanced in the rock's direction, then whipped its head back to stare at her, eyes glowing in triumph.

Alice was certain the monster was grinning at her now, and the wicked, wide-eyed smile was terrifying to behold. Shaking and slowly backing up, Alice glanced to her left and then made a break for it. Instantly the Jabberwocky swept one wing across the distance separating them, the pointed wing-tip blocking her way.

The girl dashed to her right, almost scraping her right arm against the huge boulder that blocked any other route. With a swish of wind the Jabberwocky's tail slammed into the ground in front of her, raising a small cloud of dust.

Alice kept going, trying to leap over it, but the tail lifted and smacked into her chest, sending her crashing backwards. She leaned against the large boulder for support and dragged herself upright, then gaped in fear at the sight of the Jabberwocky's face- just inches away.

The others- Tarrant, Baira, the Pawns, the Cards, the White Queen- were all too far away, too busy fighting off the relentless Jub Jub Bird to help her. Several of them were either dead or unconscious already. There was no one to save her.

'You're all alone now,' those horrible crimson eyes seemed to mock, staring hungrily into Alice's own eyes, 'You are defenseless, and now I have you. You are mine.' Alice noticed the Jabberwocky said the last part out loud.

After a long moment of staring, which was really only a second or two, Alice ducked, hoping she might have a chance to escape, dodge between its claws- But no. The Jabberwocky's hand had slowly drawn closer, unnoticed till now, and immediately struck, wrapping around her before she could move any farther.

The claws wrapped around her stomach, back, chest, and left arm. No chance of wriggling free. The Jabberwocky's grip was far too strong. It would kill her now. Hopeless.

Expecting to be blasted or crushed or eaten at any second, Alice was shocked when the creature instead spread its wings, and leapt into the air, taking her along with it.

Relieved to not be dead yet, but also terrified of what sort of fate now awaited her, Alice could hardly breathe- a condition not helped by the tight grip around her ribs and stomach. The Jabberwocky flapped higher, each wing-beat sending a powerful ripple along its body.

Looking down, the girl couldn't tell which one would be worse- remaining trapped between the monster's claws, or falling to her death. Maybe that's what it planned to do: drop her. She clung tightly to the huge reptilian fingers, suddenly light-headed.

The Jabberwocky chuckled and let out a roar, this one distinctly triumphant, and Alice glimpsed the Jub Jub Bird halting its attack. 'The Jabberwocky sent it here,' she realized, 'It signaled it, so we'd be distracted...'

Another high-pitched roar was directed at the huge avian, which shrieked back at the Jabberwocky and then flew away. A few spears soared up into the air, but lost momentum and fell before they could get anywhere near either of the creatures.

Down on the ground came the sound of pained shouting, and Alice risked a glance downwards as the Jabberwocky tilted its wings and began flying away. Far below and apart from the battered army was the Hatter, staring up at them with an expression of horror and helpless misery, visible even from so far away.

"Hatter," Alice called miserably, her voice coming out as a hoarse whisper. The Jabberwocky's grip tightened around her, and it hissed harshly. Alice struggled to pull the huge fingers apart but couldn't, then tried kicking at the creature's arm- missing completely.

She dropped her head, exhausted, and demanded harshly, "If you're _going_ to kill me then just _get_ it ov-"

"Of _course_ not," the Jabberwocky snarled impatiently, "Not _yet_, at least." Alice gave a tired, exasperated huff, "Well then _why_ are you doing this?!"

The creature growled, reaching its other hand over to wrap tightly around her, "None of your concern. Be quiet." "No," the girl panted, already exhausted and now having difficulty breathing, "What are you... going to do?"

"Be **quiet**!" the Jabberwocky boomed again, glaring at her before turning its head back to face forward, "It is not something a mere human would understand." "Why... not..." the girl wheezed faintly. If the Jabberwocky replied, she didn't hear it; she was already unconscious.

**MEEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOOW! REVIEW! See what you non-reviewers have reduced me to? Meowing! There's a reason I call myself 'Crazy Cat Girl' you know.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I see no new reviews. I KNOW you people are reading this, so how come no one else has reviewed? I will send the Jabberwocky after you!**

_Flying flying flying 'Oh tell us are you big or small' Clouds 'To try this one or try them all' Hurry hurrying 'You're dreaming are you dreaming' They'll never catch up 'How many miles to Wonderland' If only I'd brought her sooner 'No time for tears today' Almost there 'Oh how will you find your way' Here!_

Alice woke over an hour later, still trapped in the Jabberwocky's hands. The creature was not flying though; it had apparently landed and was now pacing along the ground.

Every step it took with its wings was a harsh jab at- and into- the ground, followed by a quieter but equally firm stomp of the hind legs. Left STAB! Left stomp. Right STAB! Right stomp. Left STAB! The jarring movements rocked it abruptly but rhythmically side to side.

Now that they were on solid ground again, Alice didn't have to worry about falling to her death. The worst injury she'd get at this height would be another bruise or two. With that comforting thought in mind she renewed her attempts to wriggle free.

The Jabberwocky instantly noticed and tightened its grip around her, but not before the girl managed to partially wriggle out. Now her left arm and the upper half of her body were free, leaving her stomach and legs still tightly trapped.

Annoyed, the Jabberwocky let go with one hand and lifted its other one quickly. The fingers opened for a split second, tossing Alice a couple feet into the air, and then closed securely around her once more, pinning her arms to her sides. The girl's heart pounded from that toss, but she still tried yet again to squirm out of the creature's grasp.

This only served to either amuse or annoy the monster, which snorted and resumed its pacing. Alice heaved a heavy sigh. There wasn't much she could do now- short of biting the creature's fingers, but that wouldn't do anything but leave a bad taste in her mouth.

So the girl did the only other things she could do: she talked.

"What are you planning to do to me?" she demanded. The Jabberwocky turned its head just slightly to glare at her out the corner of its left eye, emitting a low hiss.

"The others will find me," she told it defiantly, "So I'd like to hear now what your plan is, before they chase you off or kill you." The huge head violently whipped around to snarl at her, and she flinched away from the long fangs that snapped just inches from her face.

"I can assure you that they shall **not**," the Jabberwocky growled dangerously, flicking out its tongue and hissing ominously, "I will not allow it."

The creature snaked its head slowly away and resumed pacing, taking slower steps now. Its tail lashed, striking the ground and flailing through the air as though it had a mind of its own.

Suddenly it froze, tense and stock-still. Its fingers clenched so tightly around Alice that she could hardly breathe. She coughed out hoarsely, "Hey... Stop that..." The Jabberwocky hissed loudly at her, "_SSSSS'SSSSSSHhh!_"

It quickly trotted- mostly on its hind legs but with some support by the wings- away from where it'd been pacing. Then suddenly the creature stopped and, to Alice's complete shock, placed her on the ground!

"Are you-... letting me go?" she asked dumbly, utterly confused. "No!" it hiss-snapped, using its left hand to push her down flat on the ground.

"Oouuch!" Alice snapped angrily. The rocks and hard ground were pushing against her armor, making her injuries hurt even worse. "What are you doing?!" The monster did not answer, simply shoved her across the dusty earth a few feet to the left and pushed down on her back again.

"OOWW!" She hated to sound weak, but it was really hurting!

The Jabberwocky leaned down, laying the undersides of both wings flat against the ground. Alice tried to drag herself forward, clawing at the ground, which only resulted in her armor-gloves getting clogged with dirt. Again the creature shoved her, this time forwards, so her face got coated in sandy dust and she coughed.

Now the Jabberwocky seemed to be hissing something, but it was very hard to understand. It sounded very intense, but quiet.

Abruptly the creature dropped onto its left side, over to Alice's right, folding its left wing carefully so as not to land on it. This caused its hand to move off of Alice, accidentally releasing her. She leaped to her feet!

But before she could even run four steps the right wing rotated around and pinned her to the ground again. Her chin struck a hard rock, resulting in a flash of sharp pain that dazed her for several seconds.

When she was able to think clearly again (past the throbbing pain in the lower half of her face) the girl looked around blearily, eyes involuntarily filled with tears. Through blurry eyes she saw the Jabberwocky getting up again- it swept its tail-tip around and pinned her before she could escape though- and lowering its head to drag its teeth along the ground.

What? Alice squinted, blinking and wiping her eyes with a non-dust-covered part of her wrist, and squinted at it again. Purple liquid was trickling down its top fangs and seeping into the earth, like a snake injecting venom. The monster lifted its head and raked at the ground with the claws of one wing.

Its hissing monologue was getting louder, and sounded... desperate? Why? Suddenly it whipped its head around to stare at Alice, then pulled her closer with its tail-tip. Again she clawed and snatched at the ground, but there were no hand-holds to grab onto, and one glove fell off.

The creature lifted her between two claws and dropped her directly on the spot where it'd deposited its purple venom- or was it blood? The girl's left hand landed on a still-wet spot and she shook it off in disgust. She still couldn't run because the monster was holding her in place, again.

Suddenly the Jabberwocky made a shrill, almost-squawking, screech, and backed up, dragging her with it. Glancing up in annoyance, she saw it was staring at the ground, eyes wide, almost vibrating with intensity.

It was muttering softly now, jaws twitching faintly. It sounded as if it were whispering something over and over. The claws holding Alice were stiff but not tight, and they trembled slightly.

Alice turned her head to look and gasped in amazement. The ground was moving! What had the Jabberwocky _done_- poisoned some giant animal that'd been sleeping under the dirt?

Then, before her eyes, Alice saw what must surely have been the most impossible thing in all of Underland.

A **_second Jabberwocky_** was slowly forming, right out of the ground.

Glimmering of dark blue skin spread across the dirt, forming patches here and there that linked all together. It peeled up from the ground, the long, curved shapes of ribs growing and sliding within it. Shallow bulges filled in between the hidden bones, softening the edges of a spine and what must have been the shoulder-joints of the wings.

Long thick cords of bone and skin stretched out along the surface of the ground, growing thin, stick-like bones out from the far ends, a mangled kite frame re-growing its sails: the wings.

A round bulge- the skull- formed at one end, a long, ragged little tent of skin spilling forth and connecting it with the body. The bulge tapered at the end into a blunt snout with thin whiskers, and nubby points at the other end slowly grew into frills as ropes of tendon and muscle filled the neck.

Now the Jabberwocky- the first one, the one that'd kidnapped Alice- was _definitely_ vibrating, and the girl could've sworn that it was smiling. Actually 'smiling' would be an understatement.

The terrifying, evil, murderous giant monster... now had an expression of joy so hopeful and sad that it was almost painful to look upon.

More skin, muscle, and bone rippled outward from the slowly forming creature- limbs and wing-membranes and tail, until finally, it was complete. Nearly complete.

A long thin line of emptiness where nothing had grown was visible, stretched along the underside of its throat, with smaller patches of nothingness around it. After a couple seconds, dark blue blood spurted thinly from the edges of the huge scars, followed by a blindingly strong glow that was both white and black.

The enormous mass, now a fully formed creature, slumped to the ground, the incredible light fading. The Jabberwocky- the first one- leaned forward in a manner that Alice could only describe as _anxiously_.

Then, the creature on the ground moved, and the Jabberwocky let out a piercing shriek of triumph and excitement. The one laying on the ground jerked back and raised its head, startled, its vibrant purple eyes widening in surprise.

It turned its head from side to side in apparent confusion, blinking at the Jabberwocky that still maintained a death-grip on Alice. The new one, a dark, rich blue color with a thick stripe of black along its back and wings, looked puzzled

"How...?" it rasped, blinking in what looked like confusion, "How did..." It trailed off, shaking its head. The voice was male, Alice noticed, but not as deep as the first Jabberwocky's.

Then the new creature gasped, and the frills on its head stood straight up, trembling, "What happened?! Wait... there was another one, before I was killed. Did the-...?"

The first Jabberwocky flinched, and Alice looked up to see him bow his head with a whisper: "... She died."

The blue one lowered its head as well, though looked puzzled, "But there was a paradox, wasn't there? A strong one. If you brought _me_ back, after all this time, couldn't- didn't you do it for her?"

"**I _tried!_**" the first responded, this time with a harsh, rough edge of anger in its voice, "But it didn't work, it _does not_ work, without _this_."

The creature held out Alice between the tips of two claws as though she were something dirty, and growled, "This human caused the pseudo-paradox, but she'd not arrived in time for- the other. There was barely enough power in the Effect left even for _you_." Resentment colored the last word, but the second creature wasn't offended.

"I am sorry," it murmured, looking up with a surprising amount of empathy, "I'm truly sorry. Without her... you were the last, weren't you?" His expression showed horrified pity.

The first Jabberwocky hung its head down with a heavy sigh, "Yes." After a couple seconds of solemn quiet, Alice finally found her voice.

"What is going on here?!" she demanded.

**OK! I've finally gotten to a pivotal turning point in the story! That ought to get at least one more review, right? Also I'm sorry when the Jabberwocky seems Out Of Character. Remember though, that he didn't have many lines in the movie, so I don't have much to work with. SO do you people have anything to speak of? Compliments? Questions? Advice? Even complaints? **


	12. Chapter 12

**Excusez-moi, but... WHY ARE YOU HUMANS NOT REVIEWING? Supposedly over 200 views, yet fewer than two reviews! (How's that for rhyming?) Are ya scared of my replying? If that's the case then just say 'please don't reply' or some such thing 'cause I'm VERY close to not updating, out of spite. The only reason I WILL keep updating is that a wonderful kind person DID review very nicely, and I have so much of this story that it needs to be shared or I explode.**

Apparently Alice's outburst startled both creatures. The second one looked at the first and lifted its eye-ridges in surprise and question. The first gave an irritated sneer and placed Alice on the ground, holding her down with one hand.

"Ignore it, I **beg** you," it growled with a slight, wry grin, sounding faintly amused. The other gave a small shrug and turned its head from side to side, its shorter head-frills standing pricked-up until it addressed the first Jabberwocky.

"This _is_ a chain reaction Effect, yes? You and the human can bring the rest of us back."

The first creature lifted its head and turned it, as though searching, pricking up its long frills. After a moment it answered, "... Yes. Yes, but the condensed time between the windows of opportunity is different for each one. It's moving backwards, and Savierka was killed not long before you."

"Just under a year, I believe," the blue one agreed, grimacing, "If you need any assistance getting to her, or I can help boost the paradox's Effect, I gladly offer my services."

The Jabberwocky growled, but not at the blue one, "I may be followed; an army of white and red serves the new ruler of the white kingdom, and they know I took their precious '_champion_.'" It gestured to Alice with a look of disgust.

The blue one bridled with anger, "That human? _That's_ the weapon's latest bearer?!" The first gave a nasty grin, "And would have been successful had she not used my venom to return to Uponland."

The other stared for a second, then gave a curious half-screeching trill that sounded like laughter, "Ha! A perfect blend of time and irony!" "And just the thing needed to produce a pseudo-paradox."

Alice stared back and forth between the two. She couldn't understand all they were saying- it made no sense!

"I thank you for restoring me to life," the blue one then told the other, abruptly formal, "My name is Linnomil, and I am truly in your debt." The Jabberwocky shook his head, "No. Never mind that; I do not wish it to apply. If it did, it would mean the same for all others I manage to reach, and the debt would have to include this human."

The other agreed with a snort of mild disgust. Alice glared at them both, demanding, "What do you have against humans?" The larger Jabberwocky, the one who'd brought about this whole mess, hiss-snapped at her.

It then lifted its head to address the other, "Also, my apologies, Linnomil but... I wish not to give my name. For all these years, it has been the only thing in all the worlds that I still..." It held up one hand, curling the fingers in a sort of 'holding' gesture.

The blue- Linnomil- dipped his head, "Understood. A... suggestion, if I may?" "Go on." "Perhaps explaining this would help the human understand the situation. And then she would comply and not be such an annoyance?"

A nasty scoff came from the first Jabberwocky, "I highly doubt that the human Bearer from _Uponland_, who cut off my _head_ with that blasted weapon, would _ever_ want to help restore our people." Linnomil gave a shiver, either of sympathetic horror or shocked disgust.

"Incredible pseudo-paradox if it brought you back from _that_," he noted. The larger Jabberwocky narrowed it eyes grimly, grumbling, "My death was quick- I suppose I have _that_ to thank the little **insect** for." At the word 'insect' the monster's claws tightened harshly around Alice, and she coughed.

"If the human irritates you so greatly," the blue Jabberwocky observed, "Why do you not simply kill her?" Alice was shocked; the blue monster had seemed less vicious than the first, and now it calmly suggested killing her?

The larger creature snorted and shook his head, "I don't know if the effect would still work if she were dead. Also it will take a while for me to find the rest of us, and I don't want to carry around a decaying human."

The blue one nodded, a little sheepishly, "Ah. My apologies, I'm not thinking clearly."

"Understandable," the first one allowed, "You were dead for jivvors. Give yourself a chance to recuperate." The blue shook his head earnestly, "No. I wish to help, and I know I'll be able to boost the paradox's Effect. In fact, perhaps it will not be too late for your friend."

The first Jabberwocky recoiled slightly, looking away. After a pause, he nodded stiffly, "I hope you are correct. But, it seems too much to ask." Abruptly the massive creature launched into the air, beating its long wings powerfully, throwing clouds of dust into the air.

"I am going to Savierka's burial place. If you want to come, fine," he called, "If you can, though, distract the army of imbeciles who seek to find me." He gave a nasty scoff.

"They don't even know our race ever existed. I have been '_The_ Jabberwocky' for as long as they know." And with that, the Jabberwocky turned, and- still holding Alice- flew away.

Less than a minute had passed before Alice and the creature were arguing. "Tell me what is going on!" Alice was shouting.

"It would be a waste of breath!" The Jabberwocky was shouting contemptuously back at her, "Now be quiet or I'll crush the air from your lungs until you lose consciousness again!"

"No! I don't care! And I know you won't kill me because you said you needed me for something! What?! Aack." The last part was a result of the creature briefly squishing her with its claws. "OOWW."

The monster chuckled unpleasantly, "I wonder if, after this is over, eating you would cause another pseudo-paradox." "What is a 'paradox'?" the girl demanded, "You keep talking about it, and- ulmf!" The claws tightened painfully around her.

"If I continue to do this," the creature informed Alice, "I may accidentally rupture some of your innards or break your ribs. And while I would take immense pleasure in it, killing you now could ruin this chance."

"Chance! For! WHAT!" Alice shouted.

"If you're too stupid to have figured it out by now, I don't see why I should bother explaining it." The creature let out an angry huff, flapping its wings harder, "I should have asked Linnomil to come along, I haven't had a decent conversation in zyorinads."

"In whats?" Alice asked, confused. The Jabberwocky humphed loudly, rolling its eyes, "A zyorinad is the measurement for twenty-four years, here in Underland."

"Why twenty-four?" "Why not? Be quiet." "Well it just seems like such an odd number." "Actually it isn't." "Well, why not decades or centuries?" "Why do you seem to think everyone must use measurements that humans came up with?"

"Um... Fair point," Alice admitted. "Good," the creature huffed tiredly, "_Now_ will you be quiet?" . "Prob'ly not," the girl told it primly. The Jabberwocky squeezed its claws tighter, but not by much.

"... So where are you taking me?" Alice asked after a few seconds. The creature sighed loudly, its head drooping. Alice laughed, "What? Do you honestly find me that tiresome?" It didn't reply, but the wings slowed and then stilled, and the creature drifted lower, listing precariously to the right.

Alice gasped and wrapped her arms around one huge talon. The massive creature flapped again, tilting unsteadily back and forth for a moment.

"What're you doing?!" Alice exclaimed, "Are you just trying to frighten me?" There was a pause before it responded, "If that will cease your continuous chatter." The girl scowled, "No. It won't." The creature sighed and briefly curled its fingers more tightly around her.

Contrary to Alice's statement though, she hardly said anything else by the time a minute had passed. She noticed, though, that they were lower in the sky. The Jabberwocky had been flying through thin clouds for a while, but now was dropping beneath them.

The girl frowned as she noticed an odd noise. "Hhhhih-hhhhff. Hhhhhhih-hhhhfff." It was the Jabberwocky, its breathing growing steadily louder.

Confused, Alice asked hesitantly, "A-Are you alright...?" A louder huff of air answered her, and the creature's wings slowed to the point of stopping. Again it drifted lower, and at an alarming rate

"OhhHHH!" the girl exclaimed, clutching frantically at the creature's huge fingers as her stomach lurched and her hair blew everywhere. She had a feeling the Jabberwocky wasn't just pretending so it could scare her. She glanced up and saw with shock that the creature's eyes were barely open.

Just as that realization sunk in, the Jabberwocky's wings gave a small, unsteady flap, and its hands loosened their grip on her. Thousands of feet high in the air and she was going to fall! But then the creature's wings flapped again, and its fingers curled more firmly around her.

"What's going on?" the girl asked, more warily this time, "Can't you fly?" The Jabberwocky didn't answer, just kept slowly flapping its wings- rather sluggishly, Alice realized.

After roughly ten minutes, the Jabberwocky- head drooping and wings scarcely moving- glided down to the rocky side of a mountaintop. The sides were mostly barren and rocky, with just a few scattered trees. The Jabberwocky angled itself toward a large section of bare dirt and rock, and stretched out its claws to land.

Alice worried she'd be squashed beneath the enormous creature, but it leaned over and landed heavily on its right side. The huge reptile-hands, still holding Alice in front of it, went limp, the left lying heavily on top of her. With difficulty she crawled out from under it, though the right hand's claws twitched and snagged her armor.

"You'll not be able to escape," the rumbling voice of the Jabberwocky rasped, sounding thinner than before, "So don't try." The exhaustion in its voice surprised Alice, and she studied it for a moment.

The creature's sides were heaving, and its head lay limply on its side upon the ground. Its blood-red eyes were closed and even its head frills were floppy.

The girl tilted her head, "You don't look in any condition to stop me." The end of her sentence was more of a question though. The Jabberwocky's closed eyes flickered, and then its tail smashed onto the ground right behind Alice, making her jump.

"Do not. Irritate. Me," the monster muttered, eyes still closed, "Most likely the Effect does not require you to still have all your limbs." Alice rolled her eyes, but still edged back a little, "_What_ 'effect'?"

The Jabberwocky slowly lifted one eyelid, looked at her, and closed it again and murmured, "You saw an example of it when we brought back Linnomil."

"What?! 'We'?" Alice exclaimed, "_That's_ what you need me for?! What d'you mean 'bring back'? How?!"

"I've told you this much," the Jabberwocky growled softly without opening its eyes, "There is no need to explain any more. Now be quiet so I can rest."

**Sorry if the conversation about time and paradoxes was confusing. It's sort of meant to be confusing but not too much.**


	13. Chapter 13

**YAHOOOO I got another review! Anonymous, thank you so very much for the great advice; I appreciate it so much. I know I'm not doing the best job of keeping everyone in-character, so I'm working on that. As for the grammar... that's going to be a little tougher, since I have a very set writing style, but I'll do my best. Actually I've been trying to keep my chapters a little shorter, but you have a good point. On with the story!**

Alice examined the steep mountain slope they'd sort of crash-landed on, then looked back at the Jabberwocky. She could probably escape if she moved slowly and quietly enough.

She crept around to the end of the huge tail and carefully stepped over it, bits of dirt and tiny pebbles shifting around her foot. She tiptoed quietly away, trying to avoid rocks that could fall and make noise. A thin, rough tree branch scraped against her arm and she froze.

The Jabberwocky, apparently _asleep_, didn't react. If not for its slow breathing, it would've looked dead. Alice frowned and continued on her trek, muttering quietly, "I just wish you'd _stayed _dead."

After a few more steps she reached a steeper section of mountain. Carefully the girl crouched down, turned, and lowered herself over the edge of the rocky slope, wincing when a couple pebbles fell and clattered against the stone. In the quiet air, any sounds seemed very loud.

The Jabberwocky did not come roaring after her, so Alice kept moving. After about a minute or two of slow and careful walking, she looked up to check how far she'd come. She'd gone only about 20 feet. The girl huffed a sigh, and frowned at the distance she had to travel just to get down the mountain.

She had to find someplace to hide, preferably someplace far away from the Jabberwocky. But there was no cover anywhere on the mountain except a couple tall boulders, and they would only hide her from one side. If the Jabberwocky came looking for her it'd be able to spot her easily, especially in her gleaming armor.

There wasn't much she could do about that; she couldn't just dump the protective metal suit when she most needed it... A noise made her quickly look up, and she gasped at seeing that the monster was awake.

Its head was raised, but its eyes were half-closed and its frills were drooping. The creature turned its head in her direction, blinked slowly... and then lowered its head. Maybe it was half-asleep?

Either way, Alice wasn't going to take the chance of letting it finding her. She tiptoed as quickly as she dared further down the mountain, and then moved around one side until the Jabberwocky vanished from view behind the rocky slope.

Alice kept going, and much faster now that she was farther away. After another minute or so she heard the creature moving again, and she clambered over to a tall, dull tan boulder that stood tilted away from the mountain. At the base of it was a slight hollow in the earth, and Alice crouched down to make it deeper.

She dug at the loose rocks to form a deep enough hole for her to fit in. Then she planned to climb in and cover herself with rocks so she'd be completely hidden. She was half finished, and the sounds of the Jabberwocky were growing louder, when the upright boulder began to shift.

Alice glanced up to see if she'd imagined it, and then looked down again. The pebbles and rocky soil beneath the boulder sifted forward, spilling faster as the huge stone tilted downwards. It was about to fall!

The girl scrambled to one side, cursing the fact that she'd lost her hiding place. The boulder toppled over, directly toward Alice!

She leaped out of the way but it landed on her left foot, pinning it and denting the armor. She yelped in pain and struggled to pull her leg free, but the boulder slid over it, scraping and sliding down the steep slope.

It dragged Alice's foot with it, pulling her along and causing her to roll over onto her stomach. She grabbed a rock above her head and used it to pull herself up, though the strain on her leg was terrible. Finally the boulder tumbled off and continued its slide down the mountain.

An idea sprang to mind, and Alice lunged at the boulder, grabbing the back edge of it and letting it pull her along. Almost like sledding!

_Ow_. Really- _ow ow!_- painful- _OW!_- sledding.

The girl turned her head to look back and spotted the Jabberwocky, higher up and way over to one side. It had just rounded the sloped side of the mountain and was now looking in her direction.

Alice kicked at the ground, hoping to make her stone 'sled' move faster. She cried out as her injured foot burned with pain, just as the rock spun clockwise, throwing her off. She tumbled painfully down the slope to her right, arms flailing in search of a handhold.

Suddenly, as she slid backwards on her stomach, there was empty space below her feet where there should have been rock. A quick wild glance showed that she'd slid to the edge of a sheer drop on the mountainside.

Alice screamed and scrabbled more frantically. She hooked her arms around a long, jagged rock- just as she slipped over the edge. The rock broke and Alice grabbed onto the shallow ledge that remained.

She dangled over the cliff, barely keeping her grip on the ledge of stone. There was a twenty-foot drop down below, just waiting for her to fall.

The sudden, loud shifting of rocks caused Alice to look up. The Jabberwocky was coming down the mountain after her, half slithering and half scrambling down the rough, unstable stones. Alice tried to pull herself up but couldn't; she'd never done this before- except on the table in that room with the doors- and had nothing for her feet to push off of.

She tried inching her way along the ledge to her left as the huge creature approached from her right side. A large chunk of stone broke off when she grabbed near it, cutting off her route to the left. Then the rock around her left hand crumbled, making her gasp and swing from her other arm before she could grab on again.

Alice sighed hopelessly, glancing over at the waiting Jabberwocky. The rocks beneath its feet shifted, and Alice's ledge trembled as the creature drew closer. It slowly extended its neck toward her, eyes narrowed.

"You are a very bothersome human," it growled, opening its jaws wide. Alice wanted to kick at it, but that would unbalance her. So she held very still, her eyes wide as the creature slowly tilted its head 90 degrees to the left and placed its teeth around her.

The Jabberwocky closed its jaws very carefully around her, the hinges popping from how wide its mouth was open. Its side-teeth held her shoulders and stomach firmly, and it pulled away from the cliff.

Alice clung to the ledge with the tips of her fingers, but lost her grip as the creature pulled her away as if she were a bug. It climbed back up the mountain, still carrying her sideways in its mouth. It turned its head side to side, then slithered over to a shallow dip in the ground and began digging with its front claws.

Alice wriggled uncomfortably and pushed at its lower jaw with her hands. "Are you going to put me down?" she asked. With a mouth full of Alice, the creature couldn't form any words and merely answered with a growl.

A small pit soon formed in the ground as a result of the Jabberwocky's digging. It shoveled out huge scoops of dirt and tugged out large rocks, sending them tumbling down the mountain as though they were nothing.

When the hole was roughly seven or eight feet wide and about ten feet deep, the creature sat down on its haunches and placed Alice on the ground. The instant it moved its teeth away though, it held the girl down with one hand.

Said-girl 'humph'ed; this was becoming a very annoying trend.

She gasped and struggled to move away when the Jabberwocky stuck its snout into the hole and unleashed a torrent of lightning, blasting through the rock and sending pieces flying everywhere. It waited for the dust to clear, examined the pit, and then promptly picked up Alice and dropped her in.

The girl yelped as she landed, but immediately scrambled into a standing position. She gasped in pain when she put weight on her injured left foot. She tried to ignore it and instead attempted to jump out of the pit. No good: it was too deep.

Above her, the enormous creature watched indifferently. It turned to one side and laid down across the opening of the pit, blocking off most of the light. Alice pounded on the walls of her prison and tried to claw her way up, but to no avail.

Looking around with a determined frown, her gaze settled on a rock that'd broken loose from the edge of the pit. She searched the ragged walls for other loose bits of stone and, finding one a little above eye-level, tugged it loose. It fell to the ground with a loud clatter and broke in two.

"I told you earlier," the Jabberwocky growled, "not to attempt escape. You failed then and you will do so now, so save your strength, be quiet, and let me rest."

Alice kept working, scowling when she heard the creature give a long-suffering sigh. She could just picture it shaking its head at her as if she was a little kid and the monster had nothing to fear. Annoyance lent strength to her efforts and helped her ignore her exhaustion and the throbbing in her foot.

After roughly an hour she'd managed to pry loose a large pile of rocks, which she then used as a stepping stool. She leaped off, using mostly her right foot for the jump, and slammed against the rough wall again, clinging to a large rock that jutted out.

She struggled to pull herself up, but she'd already tried this so many times that her arms were exhausted and shaking. Frustrated and tired, she let go, bare fingers burning, and fell on her side as she landed on the ground.

Her elbow smacked against the gloves of the armor, which she'd removed so she could climb better. The metal clinked loudly in the echoing space, but the girl ignored it. She lay her head down on her arms and let out a tired sigh.

Above, the Jabberwocky lifted its head and lazily glanced down, shifting back so the opening of the pit was visible. Upon seeing Alice lying next to the pile of rocks, the creature gave what could only be described as a smirk, and got up.

The girl yelped in surprise as she felt the Jabberwocky's claws slide under her, and scrambled to escape as it lifted her up. The creature stretched out its neck and shook its head, dog-like, then did the same with its wings, tail, and finally legs.

Then- still holding Alice securely in one hand- it crouched down, spread its wings, and took off. Once up in the air, it wrapped its other hand around the girl, and soared away.

"So why'd you take so long a rest?" Alice called, over the sound of the wind. The Jabberwocky rolled its shoulders, causing it to wobble slightly, and answered, "I've not flown in a long time, and," -here he gave a little scoff- "I'm not as young as I used to be."

"How old _are_ you?" Alice inquired, surprised that the creature had replied at all. She didn't expect any answer.

The Jabberwocky rumbled deep in its throat, "Hundreds upon hundreds of years, to put it in human terms." "Really?" the girl asked, startled.

The creature rumbled again, sounded almost amused, "You humans were still living in stone castles after I hatched."

Alice shook her head in amazement, "You're much more talkative now." The Jabberwocky gave a horse-like snort and shook its frills for a second, its red eyes narrowing and focusing straight ahead.

The girl frowned to herself, then tried prompting, "You'd said you haven't had any good conversations in a long time. What about while you worked for the Red Queen?"

"I did _not _work for that creature!" the monster spat furiously, wheeling around in midair and snarling in Alice's face. Its fingers clenched so quickly and so tightly around her that the armor bent inwards and the girl gasped for air. Her gaze involuntarily flicked away from the monster's burning red eyes.

"You think," it snarled in disgust, flapping its wings in a harsh, angry manner and raking the air with its hind claws, "that I would _ever_ stoop to working for that wretched excuse for a humanoid?!"

Alice pulled away as far as she could, protesting indignantly, "Alright, al_right_! How am _I_ supposed to know why you, you, why you destroyed the Hatter's home and, and fought on the Red Queen's side, and tried to kill me, and- ruined the castle, and-..." She trailed off, angry and flustered. *****

The monster growled and went back to flying normally, head facing forward. It gave a soft hiss and grumbled, "I **assure** you, I did not willingly seek out em_ploy_ment for that arrogant nuisance."

Alice, not really knowing what else to say, just looked away and put her head down on her arm, grimacing at the pressure it put on her bruised chin.

The Jabberwocky turned its head to glance at her for a moment, and then turned its attention back to flying.

*** Again, I realize the grammar is off in some parts (in that paragraph it's supposed to be), but sometimes it just seems to express or describe things better the way that it is. Thank you again, Anonymous, for the excellent (and wonderfully kind) advice!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello again! Sorry for not updating sooner. *Head smacks on table* And that's how the slow-updating starts...**

_Oh how will you find your way... No time for tears today. Another day, another day._

Over an hour later, having dozed off and slowly woken, Alice blinked her bleary eyes open and looked around. She sighed. She'd had another dream about flying, which was good, but reality was unpleasantly similar.

She was still clutched firmly in the Jabberwocky's hand, on her way to who-knew-where. The wind blasted across her, whipping her hair around and stinging her face.

Alice peered over the Jabberwocky's hand to look at the ground far below. She flinched when the creature asked suddenly, "Not going to try **jumping**, are you?"

The girl shook her head, "Of course not. I was just... I'd always wondered what it would be like to fly."

The Jabberwocky nodded, murmuring wistfully, "There is nothing like it." Alice thought for a moment, then wondered aloud, "You used to do a lot of flying?"

The creature hesitated before answering, "...Yes." It sounded like he was going to say more, but he didn't. The girl considered asking, but she didn't.

It was some time before the two spoke again. When they did, it was as the Jabberwocky was gliding carefully down through the clouds, circling for a place to land.

"So... What is this all for?" Alice asked, "Making Jabberwockies appear? You'd better not be making an army." The creature reacted far more angrily than she'd expected.

"Of course not!" it snarled, "I am not not creating _soldiers_! My kind were **_never_** like you _humans_. Or your Underland counterparts." This was spat with such bitterness and disgust it left Alice speechless.

She didn't speak as the Jabberwocky slowly coasted to the ground, fanning its wings to keep it balanced on the landing. Instead the girl focused on her surroundings.

The earth was mostly hard and dusty, with a thin scattering of tall, twisted trees here and there among the low hills. It reminded her of the wilderness around the chessboard battlefield, but slightly less flat. A few dips in the ground formed large, shallow ponds with a sprinkling of grass around the edges.

The Jabberwocky turned its head, walking slowly and examining the ground as though looking for something. Alice didn't comment. After a few minutes though, of the Jabberwocky just sitting there, she decided to speak up.

"So, this um... other Jabberwocky," she began, "Who is she?" The creature whipped its head around to look at her. She explained, "You mentioned it was a girl before. Her name was... Sav-... Savvy..."

"Savierka," the Jabberwocky told her briefly, "She was a friend during the last years of our species. We travelled together."

"What was she like?" "You'll see for yourself soon enough," the creature growled, "Actually..." He glanced around for a moment and the open, mostly barren terrain, and frowned.

"There is nowhere to run," the Jabberwocky reminded her sternly, "But you may need to keep hidden after she is revived. She despises humanoids nearly as much as I."

Alice frowned, "How comforting." This made the Jabberwocky actually snort in amusement, grinning for a second. He turned his head back to watch the specific patch of ground, and stayed there for a while.

After a couple minutes the gigantic creature lowered himself to the ground and laid down with his hands- and Alice- held in front of his chest. Alice squirmed a little, hoping to get free of the annoyingly constant grip around her. The Jabberwocky growled, but Alice continued her efforts.

Said-efforts were in vain though, as the Jabberwocky was simply too huge and its grip too strong for her to escape. Finally she gave up with a frustrated huff, scowling up at the beast.

"I do not understand your reasoning behind this," the Jabberwocky told her, "You cannot escape, and there is no reason to do so." "Of course there is!" the girl replied, struggling one more time and then going limp.

"You are not in any immediate danger," the Jabberwocky told her reasonably, "So why do you attempt to flee?" "Maybe I don't want to help you make Jabberwockies appear out of the ground," Alice retorted, glaring.

The enormous creature tilted its head slowly, "You still assume that they are entirely new individuals who've never existed before. And that they and I wish to cause harm." The girl frowned and looked up uncertainly, "Don't you?"

"Only to those who wish to kill me and my kind," the Jabberwocky rumbled, its blood-red eyes narrowing at something only it could see. Then it twitched, the frills adorning its head lifting like sails.

The Jabberwocky stood up with a gleam in its eyes. "Now," it murmured.

It stalked quickly to a slight mound in the earth, the place it'd been watching, and began scooping the dirt away with its hind claws. Alice watched, still being held in the creature's hands, and snickered.

"What?" the Jabberwocky growled impatiently, clearing away the excess soil with its tail. Alice tried to hide her grin, "Sorry, it's just that you look a dog, digging at the ground like that." The Jabberwocky turned its head to hiss at her.

"You _could_ **help**," it informed her petulantly, lowering its hand to drop her on the ground to its left. "What no wait my foot!" Alice yelped, but it'd already let go.

Alice tucked her left leg to her chest and held it so she wouldn't fall on her injured foot, instead landing clumsily on her right leg and left hand. It hurt, but not too badly. She shook her head when a little dirt got flung in her face, and wiped it off with one hand.

She stood up but immediately winced and fell to her side, unable to stand on her left foot. She hadn't been able to remove the armor from it yet; the armor was too badly dented, and moving it hurt.

The Jabberwocky glanced over at her for a second and continued digging, then swept its tail around to pull her closer. The girl yelped as being dragged across the ground caused her foot to twist painfully. The Jabberwocky didn't seem to notice.

Its claws- the front ones- scraped against something beneath the dirt, and it flinched, claws freezing in place, frills perking up for a second. Then it dug even faster, now pulling large stones out of the soil and tossing them behind it.

Now the creature _definitely_ looked like a dog.

A few seconds after rolling away several small boulders, the Jabberwocky scooped Alice up into its hand and placed her on the ground where it'd been digging. She edged away, but paused at the sight of dull white objects beneath the soil.

The Jabberwocky lowered its head and pulled back its lips to reveal trickles of purple liquid sliding down its fangs. These it stuck into the ground, where the long ivory shapes had been unearthed.

The creature's eyes flicked over to regard the girl curiously for a second, and then moved its head away, sliding its fangs through the ground and leaving little grooves in the dirt. The purple fluid sank into the ground, giving off little wisps of steam.

Alice placed a hand tentatively on the ground, sweeping it back and forth and then pulling away in case something happened. The Jabberwocky walked around in a rough circle, sliding its tail along the ground. Then, as Alice watched in disbelief, it dropped onto its back, its claws in the air, and began wriggling around.

The girl watched, an assortment of expressions crossing her face: confusion, uncertainty, concern, utter bafflement. She considered several things she could say, lifted a hand and opened her mouth to try, and then closed it again, silently shaking her head.

It was simply too strange to describe or say anything about.

The Jabberwocky got up, shook the dirt off itself with a convulsive shudder, and then gestured to Alice. The girl shook her head. The creature rolled its eyes and stalked toward her, "You need only touch the ground a _little_ more; our paradoxial fields only work when both..."

It trailed off and shook its head, "Never mind, just touch the ground where I did!" Alice reluctantly stood- keeping off her left foot- hobbled a couple steps, and patted the ground with one hand, still watching the Jabberwocky carefully.

The creature shifted on its hind limbs for a moment, waiting and folding and refolding its wings. A couple seconds passed. Then its eyes widened and frills stood on end, and it bounded forward.

Alice jerked back and flung up one arm, just as the creature swept past, scooping her up in one hand. The whole being-held-in-a-giant-hand thing was getting annoying.

When the Jabberwocky skidded to a stop and spun around to watch, Alice shoved at its fingers. "You can put me down, you know!" she snapped, "It's not as if I could run anywhere. Or run at _all_." The Jabberwocky looked down at her, looking slightly puzzled for a second.

Then as the ground before them rippled, began glowing and shifting, the Jabberwocky forgot all about Alice.

A glimmer of dark brown, snake-like skin spread through the dull tan dirt. It mushroomed into an enormous bulging crescent shape, roughly as big as the Jabberwocky. A tail snaked out over to the right and flopped heavily to the ground, arching away from the body and with the tip laying near the head.

The middle of the creature bubbled up in the center, wrapping the ivory shapes in flesh and muscle. Alice realized they must've been bones. Claws slid out the end of a long, sock-like flap of skin near the front, which slowly grew into an arm, bending abruptly at the elbow and wrist and becoming sharp.

The skull formed quickly, along with the neck, jaws snapping open with a rough scrape. Alice winced.

As the neck and throat filled and expanded, the head shifted, ragged frills twitching at the ends. As the massive wings formed and the thin, pale amber membranes stretched between their skeletal fingers, the creature's eyes opened.

The Jabberwocky, the first one, twitched, with an almost pained expression. The new creature, the brown and yellow female, lifted its head sluggishly, to watch with harsh golden eyes as the last of its body formed.

A long, twisted gash curled along its back and right side, oozing thick blood. The same happened to a large, deep slit in its upper stomach and in slits and holes all over its wings, where at _least_ two wing-fingers were cut in half like broken sticks.

As white and black light spilled from the damaged areas, the creature coughed and spat droplets of dark blue blood onto the ground, narrowing its eyes and gritting its teeth. The blinding glow faded, and the creature shakily stood.

It fixed bright golden eyes on the first Jabberwocky, then zeroed in on Alice. The shock and absolute hatred in the brown one's expression were terrifying.

The yellow-tinged creature snarled and swept its head around in an arc, sharply examining everything of the surroundings. The first Jabberwocky lifted one bluish wing tip and the female snapped her head around to look.

"Savierka," the first Jabberwocky greeted earnestly, "It is good to see you. Please, there's no danger." The yellow-and-brown creature bristled, the whip-like tail lashing and breaking apart several dead trees.

"No danger?!" she demanded in a hiss, sounding enraged, "How much time has passed? And your sister, how long ha-"

The dark Jabberwocky let out a furious shriek, unfurling his wings and dropping Alice as he spread his claws and bared his teeth. The girl flinched, staring up at the creature in shock.

Purple lightning crackled out from between the Jabberwocky's open jaws, scorching the air. He clamped his jaws shut with a snap, blood-red eyes glaring at the female, who observed him silently.

"_Do **NOT**, speak of her,_" he growled thickly, claws quivering stiffly. The other observed him critically for a moment, and then her glare softened slightly and she looked away.

Then she turned around to glare again, "So why is there a _human_ here?" Her snarl froze for a moment as she paused, eyes brightening and a chilling grin lighting up her reptilian face, "To kill?"

The first Jabberwocky growled and placed both sets of front claws protectively on the ground in front of Alice, blocking her from the female. "No," he growled firmly, "I need the human, to revive everyone else. She caused an extremely powerful pseudo-paradox, which we can use the Effect of to-"

The brown-and-yellow one didn't seem to be listening. She scrunched up her face in annoyance and disgust, and sent a thin blast of lightning scorching into the ground by her feet.

"Alright, I under_stand_," she hissed, "I won't kill it. I'd like to get my fangs into _sssome_thing though."

Her tongue flicked out as she bared her teeth with a savage expression, "Where are the accursed weapon-makers?"

Now it was the male Jabberwocky's turn to grin viciously. His ruby eyes smoldered wickedly, "**Gone**." The one word was filled with all the hatred and sick satisfaction imaginable. The brown female's own eyes lit up, "_All?_"

"**None** remain," the first rumbled darkly, smirking, "I left their settlement utterly destroyed, with not a trace left except blasted bones and rock under the _largest_ avalanche Underland has **_ev_errr** sseeen. Nothing even for a Jubjub bird to scavenge."

A shiver of pleasure rolled across the female from frills to tail-tip, a terrible smile on her face as she closed her eyes and sunk her claws deep into the ground.

"Wish I'd been alive to participate," she hissed delightedly. Alice, horrified by everything she'd heard, had been crawling carefully and slowly away, but now her armor slid across a stone, scraping noisily. Both Jabberwockies turned to stare at her.

The first one extended a hand and dragged her back, ignoring her pained protests, then asked the brown-and-yellow female, "Savierka, I've been flying for some time, and it's been so long. I can't recall- when was the last death, before you?"

The female gave a solemn shrug and closed her eyes, frills waving ever so slightly, "A little over two years, I believe." The darker one sighed, "Good. Then I'll have some time to rest before finding him. The time I have in which to get there is so condensed for this Effect."

Savierka shrugged again, "If there is any way I can help, tell me now. Otherwise I think I shall go to Uponland." She flexed her claws, with a vicious smirk, "I'd like to work out some... energy."

The Jabberwocky shook his head with a slight growl, "Do you plan to start this nightmare all over again? It is **over**."

"_Our_ people were _not_ the ones who 'started it_,_'" the female snarled, flapping her wings harshly a few times and flicking out her snake-like tongue angrily, "Those ungrateful humanoids did."

"I know that as well as you," the Jabberwocky agreed, picking up Alice and spreading his wings, "But if you're so determined to further stain your claws with blood, at least wait until there are more than three of us." The female gave a low growl.

The first Jabberwocky sighed quietly, "It's been jivvors, Savierka. None of the cretins remain, nor their own descendants. Do not avenge those I journey to save by killing the fools who now inhabit our world."

The female narrowed her eyes and slid her gaze to the side, frowning mutinously and looking like she may or may not listen to this counsel.

She looked up as the first Jabberwocky took off. "About your sister...!" she called. He snapped out a sharp warning growl, ruby eyes glinting.

"I hope it was quick," the female stated gravely, her expression solemn. She pointedly examined her own back- where the glowing scar of emptiness had been- and unfurled the wing whose finger-bones had been broken.

The first Jabberwocky opened its mouth as if to reply, but then closed it, nodded once, and flapped away from her.

**I don't know why, but I just LOVE this chapter. Also, Savierka's name is pronounced "Sa-vee-air-kuh."**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you, Shadow'sDelight, for both your reviews! I'm so glad you find it exciting! I hate writing boring parts, and was worried that skipping htem might make the story have less... I dunno, details, meat, something like that. I will, thank you! And thanks again!**

Still clutched in the creature's hand, Alice struggled to break free. She writhed in vain, twisting and kicking and grunting in frustration.

She didn't care if she fell to her death, if only it would stop these monsters from killing again. She said this aloud when the Jabberwocky demanded to know what she was doing.

It growled at her, glaring testily, "In case you have not noticed, I've killed _nothing_ recently. And just now I advised Savierka not to, as well."

Alice groaned as she struggled to free herself from its clawed grasp, "But you said, you, *wheeze* killed an, *pant* an entire settlement of *pant* _people! _What's to stop you from doing it again?!"

"**They** were the ones who murdered **_my_** people," the monster growled icily, its dagger-like teeth bared in a ferocious grimace, "They spread their wretched Vorpal weapons throughout Underland, expressly to further our extinction." Bitterness and hatred simmered within his words.

Alice twisted back and forth, grunting in frustration. "You're not making any sense!" she snapped, pausing in her futile escape-attempts to catch her breath.

The creature let out a dark chuckle, smiling humorlessly and lifting its head up to watch the sky, which was choked with dark grey clouds. Alice found the sight rather gloomy, but the monster seemed to enjoy it.

"And if I _did_ 'make sense' in giving you an explanation," he scoffed quietly, "you'd think I were lying. Humanoids never accept anything so awkward as _truth_ if it makes them uncomfortable."

"How many humans have you known?" Alice asked. "I've known few humanoids and almost no humans," the creature answered, "Most of those I've encountered are reminders for _why_ that is so."

"Would you stop being so cryptic?!" Alice exclaimed, "Stop acting as if you know all these mysteries and secrets! If you would EXPLAIN, then maybe I would under_stand_!"

To her surprise and annoyance, the creature chuckled at her, as though she were an amusingly naïve little girl. Frustrated to no end, Alice kicked one of its arms, "There's no _law_ against that, is there?! Assuming you and your 'people' even _have_ laws?!"

The Jabberwocky snarled at her but otherwise ignored her increasing frustration. Alice kicked its arm again, but then cried out in pain because it was her injured foot she'd used.

The Jabberwocky twitched, then turned its head to look. It blinked slowly, asking unsympathetically, "You are injured?"

Alice scowled at it, wishing she could reach down to hold her injury and lessen the pain. Instead she snapped, "Yes! I've _been_ injured since I fell down that mountain!"

The creature turned its head back to focus on flying and asked in a bored tone, "How?" "Well maybe I shouldn't explain it because you just won't under_stand_!" the girl snapped nastily, mimicking it.

Again the Jabberwocky found her irritation amusing and chuckled to itself. It gave a laughing sigh, "If you think to annoy me into letting you go, give up now, girl. After nearly half a zyorinad dealing with Savierka, and jivvors of isolation, your chatter is almost entertaining."

Alice scowled deeply as the creature continued, "Now, how were you injured? Perhaps I will do something about it the next time I land."

"What do you plan to do, amputate it?" Alice muttered, feeling a bit childish.

"If it's infected with gangrene, then yes, possibly," the Jabberwocky answered almost cheerily, "Seeing as it's such a recent injury though, I highly doubt it."

Alice rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Very reassuring."

...Line break!... Line break! ...Liiiine break!... Line break! ... Line break! ... Spaceship! ... Liiiiinne breeeEEEAAAK, OOVer the rainBOW...! Where bird- *ack.* ...Line break...

**At the mountain where they landed the first time! Point Of View: The Hatter and a search party!**

"Look over here!" a white Pawn called. Tarrant looked up from where he was crouching in the dirt, looking under rocks.

"What?" he exclaimed, quickly getting up and stumbling as fast as he could toward the Pawn, "What did you find?! Is it absolutely Alice?" He nearly tripped, but grabbed onto the branch of a small dead tree for support.

As the Hatter reached the soldier, he saw a huge, deep pit in the ground. It was as though an enormous fist had punched a hole right through the steep mountain floor.

The stone floor and walls of it were scorched, and several rocks were blackened or fused together, most likely from intense heat. The tell-tale scorch marks were even visible on the rocks and dirt around the edges of the hole.

The Hatter's eyes darkened with anger.

"Tha' ole beastie di'this, ah presume?" he asked darkly, his voice practically a growl as he glared at no one in particular.

The Pawn nodded gravely, then pointed his spear at something at the bottom of the pit. The Hatter peered at the object more closely, but couldn't tell what it was.

It was shiny, grayish, and small. Possibly metal.

One of the red Cards, who'd been talking with a couple others, started climbing down into the hole backwards. Once he was dangling by his hands, another Card crouched down and backed towards him, allowing the first Card to grab the second one's feet.

A third Card repeated the process and held onto the rim of the pit, the other two dangling beneath him. Tarrant leaned over to look. The first Card stood in the bottom of the hole, and reached down to pick up the object.

He looked at it for a second and then looked up sadly, then carefully tossed it- no, them, for there were two objects- to the white Pawn. The white soldier caught them and handed them solemnly to Tarrant.

The Hatter looked down at the objects, which appeared to be a pair of meal gloves of some kind. They looked just like- no, they **were**- Alice's!

"These were part of her armor!" he exclaimed, "We're on the right trail! Or is it the left...? No it's both, it truly is." He grinned at the right and the left glove, thrilled.

But the Pawn and Cards- who'd helped one another up out of the pit- were looking at him sadly. The Hatter was confused for a moment, then looked at the hole. After a couple seconds he glared at the others defiantly.

"Sheh is **no' dedh**!" he told them firmly, and then his accent melted away, "Sheh absolutely isn't! If she isn't dead then she must be alive and if she's alive then she's not dead and if that's so then we must find her! Alive! Alice. Fez..."

His voice broke and he frowned worriedly at the metal gloves resting in his bandaged hands.

Another Pawn, who'd paused his own search and overheard everything, walked over to him. He reached out to solemnly place a comforting hand on Tarrant's shoulder.

"NO!" the Hatter declared, hold up one hand determinedly, suddenly excited, "Look at these!" He held out the little pieces of armor, but kept a firm hold on them.

"Look!" he repeated, "These aren't burnt! The hole, of course, is burnt, surely, but these are not! And there's no other armor in there! is there?"

He leaned over the pit worriedly, then spun around with a triumphant smile, "AHA! There is not!" The Pawns and Cards looked at one another, then back at the Hatter. They didn't quite agree with his optimism... but it did make a _little_ sense.

"Alice," Tarrant continued, "is alive, and leaving us a trail!" The Pawns and Cards again looked at one another. The Hatter's theory was unlikely, but they had no other ideas.

"SO!" Tarrant declared, striding off purposefully, "We shall keep looking!"

Again leading the group, aut in front of everyone, he made sure no one could see what he was doing. Then he swallowed and blinked back tears as he clutched the armor fragments to his chest.

... Liiiiiinne breeeeeaaaak!... Line break-itty-break! Liiiiiiiiine BREAK! ... Line breeeeeaaak! ...

**Back with Alice and the Jabberwocky!**

Once the first drops of rain fell, the Jabberwocky began searching for a place to land. It was early evening, but already dark because of the thick rain clouds.

The creature eventually found another mountain. This one was dark grey instead of pale brown, taller and steeper than the first, and riddled with caves. The Jabberwocky coasted down to land inside the largest cave, situated just above a sheer drop-off.

The fact that the cave was mostly waterproof did little to change the fact that both Jabberwocky and girl were soaked by the time they got inside.

Setting Alice down on the floor of the cave, the Jabberwocky leaned to one side and shook itself all over, flinging water all over the place. Alice grimaced, already sopping wet and in no mood to get any wetter.

She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself and glaring at the reptilian monster. Her foot ached worse than ever, and its armor covering was cold, wet, and painfully cramped.

As the Jabberwocky settled down to rest, Alice limped along a wall to the mouth of the cave. The Jabberwocky made no move to stop her, and during the brief flashes of lightning she saw why.

The cliff was too steep to climb down and probably too slippery with rain as well. She heaved a sigh and sat on the ground, frustrated, cold and tired.

The Jabberwocky turned its head to look at her, its red eyes glowing softly in the darkness, and rumbled expectantly, "Well? What is your injury?"

"It's nothing," the girl muttered, "Just my foot." The creature snorted, "That is not nothing. Especially if it means you cannot even walk correctly because of it. Show me, and perhaps I will help."

"Fine," the girl retorted in exasperation, "What do I have to lose?" She attempted to pull off the armor-covering, but it was badly bent and caught halfway, making her grunt in pain.

The Jabberwocky watched evenly as she finally pried off the armor... and she gasped at the sight that greeted her.

Lifting its eye-ridges slightly, the Jabberwocky observed, "Your foot appears to be broken."

That it was. Almost the entire foot- and some of the leg- was swollen, the skin puffy and red. Terrible bluish purple bruising covered the center of the foot, where the edge of a bone was visible through the skin.

Suddenly it didn't look like nothing.

"C-can you fix it?" Alice asked nervously, suddenly not caring about pride anymore.

The creature narrowed its eyes unhappily, frills drooping slightly as it turned its head to watch the rain. "...Ye-es..." came the slow, reluctant answer, "But your injury is from more than a rillot ago. I'd prefer to not waste any power fixing it..."

"WH- You said you'd _help_!" Alice exclaimed angrily, and the Jabberwocky hissed.

"I said _perhaps_ I would," it growled, its voice a quieter rumble than the thunder outside, "And a temporary, nonfatal injury of yours is nothing compared to the importance of restoring my race."

Alice glared at him, but the Jabberwocky glared right back, steady and unblinking. After a moment, the girl finally looked away.

She heard the creature moving and looked. It was shifting closer to the cave's exit, and slowly lifted its wings and head-frill as another bolt of lightning struck the mountainside nearby. The light seemed to give the purplish blue membranes a slight glow.

After remaining there for several minutes, during which Alice nearly fell asleep, the Jabberwocky moved away from the cave's opening and lay on the ground. Its head and tail curved into shallow arcs as it half-closed its eyes.

It looked much like a sleeping cat, Alice thought, or a snake basking in the sun.

"You are still awake?" it rumbled quietly, slowly blinking its crimson eyes and sounding mildly surprised. Alice nodded warily.

The creature shifted its tail in a beckoning gesture, "Come here, and I'll see what I can do for your injury."

The girl rolled her eyes and stayed where she was, "My, aren't you inconsistent?"

"I was waiting until I had enough extra power," it responded. Alice guesed it'd somehow gotten this 'extra' from the lightning storm. The creature continued, "I'd rather not waste any of it, though it won't do to have you wincing and complaining this whole journey."

It slowly flicked its tail along the cave floor, and the edge of it nicked Alice's foot. She flinched at the pain and glared at the Jabberwocky.

He smirked and lifted an eye-ridge, calling rather smugly, "If you wait much longer, I'll decide it's not worth the energy."

Alice ground her teeth together and grudgingly started inching across the floor, just a couple feet toward the Jabberwocky. It smiled and stretched out its head, opening its mouth to reveal dripping fangs.

Alice stiffened and pulled away, causing the creature to close its jaws with a snort.

"I'm not going to harm you," it informed her impatiently, and opened its mouth again. Alice nervously held still, as purple liquid dripped off the huge teeth and onto her injured foot.

"There," the creature declared firmly, after a couple drops had fallen. He laid his head on the ground near Alice, his head-frills quivering slightly.

Alice looked at him with a puzzled frown, then looked back at her foot. That was it? Maybe she had to wait.

A few seconds passed, and nothing happened.

Even more seconds passed, and suddenly she felt something. It was a strange tingling or faint burning sensation throughout the injured appendage.

As she watched and stiffened in slight pain, the bruising and redness faded!

Alice stared at her her foot, then at the Jabberwocky. His head-frills continued shivering. Alice looked back at her foot just as it straightened with a dull scrape. It hurt badly for a second and she winced.

But... then it didn't hurt at all. To her amazement, her foot looked completely fine! She wiggled her toes, and they didn't hurt at all!

It was as if she'd never gotten hurt.

**Sorry if the Hatter was Out Of Character! He's surprisingly hard to write. Also I'm ending this chapter here because the big explanation finally happens in the next one and I wasn't sure where else to separate theis chapter from the next.**


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